Whispers in the Dark
by Leapingspirit
Summary: Ren, a mysterious character meets the avatar, he joins him and the gang but he later betrays them prooving himself to be untrustful, he tries to apology, will he be able to proove himself a good friend? Thanks to Maxwolf for helping me w/ the summary
1. Chapter 1

Whispers in the Dark

Summary: READ THE STORY!!!! BLEH!!

Chapter 1- Changes

Pained yelps and howls rang out through the Fire Nation's testing facility as scientists prodded a large tiger-wolf with prongs and poles. They injected him with several shots that were slowly changing his attributes and DNA. He had been in this living hell for three months, and every day the scientists took him into a dimly lit, small room and injected him with both fluids and solids. He could feel his bones stretching and changing, and his vocal chords were changing as well, allowing him to utter throaty curses between yelps and howls.

His light brown fur, with a white chest and belly, black stripes on his back, and a helmet style patch over his eyes, muzzle, and forehead, was bristling with fear and rage as the scientists stabbed him with a needle again. He swore they were enjoying tormenting him.

Once or twice he had sensed other animals in the facility, but their presence was weak, and he could tell they were dying. Determined not to meet the same fate, the tiger-wolf fought against the sleepy feeling that was trying to over come him and tried in vain to fire bend again. But he was too weak, and the scientists had his arms and legs chained to a wall, so he couldn't fight back. And they never seemed to get close enough for him to bite them, though he didn't know exactly where they were because his fire bending was too weak to even send out the small, undetectable heat waves that he used to be able to 'see' the world around him.

With one last stab with another needle, the scientists stopped their testing and unchained his arms and legs, making him slump to the ground. The tiger-wolf could feel that his front paws were different, the toes had elongated, and that he had grown another one on the inner part of his paw. They were trying to make him more human, giving him opposable thumbs was nothing compared to what they could do.

A low, weak growl escaped his throat as he glared at where he thought the scientists would be and he heard them chuckle darkly at him.

"Well, now that you have the ability to speak, why don't you tell us your name?" one of them sneered. The tiger-wolf snarled and tried to stand so he could attack them, but his legs felt like jelly, so he huffed and slumped back down, his lips pulled back in a defiant snarl. One of the men kicked him in the ribs, making him cough as air was forced from his lungs. "Name." he demanded.

"... Ren..." he growled in a low, extremely throaty voice. Even he could barely understand it.

"Hmm... seems like your vocal chords need some more testing to make you coherent, but you should be ready for the Fire Lord within a week." another one said. Ren could tell that he was one of the ones that didn't much care for the testing that all the animals in the facility were going through, but that didn't change the amount of malice that he harbored for Fire Nation residents, innocent or not.

"The Fire Lord... can kiss my furry behind..." he snarled, a bit louder this time. The scientist that kicked him before kicked him again, but harder. Ren toppled over onto his side, but struggled to sit back up almost immediately. They dragged him roughly out of the room and back to the cell that had become his 'home' in the past months and flung him harshly inside.

"Maybe no food for two days will teach you to respect our nation's leader." Ren just growled in response, his blind eyes narrowed in hate as they walked away, leaving him to fall slowly into a state of unconsciousness.

-Two Years Later-

"Come on you no good wolf! Let's go!" yelled a young man. He was dressed in Fire Nation armor, his long dark brown; near black; hair pulled back in a high pony tail, and a hideous burn over his left eye.

"Keep your panties on princy boy, I'm coming." snarled Ren as he plodded up the ramp leading onto the other's ship. "Just cause you have a twist in your toga from being banished; even after three years; doesn't mean you have to take it out on me." The wolf smirked as he got the image of smoke coming out of Zuko's ears in his mind at his taunts.

"Why you dirty-"

"Prince Zuko. Do not take out your anger on this poor tiger-wolf. Save it for more efficient things, such as training." Iroh, Zuko's kind uncle, whom had come with him when he had been banished, cut in. "Now come and have a cup of tea. It is delicious, and it is also the perfect time of day for it."

"Thanks for the support Iroh. And for the tea." Ren said, grinning in his general direction. Iroh chuckled good naturedly and offered a cup to the tiger-wolf, who took it gingerly with one paw. Sometimes, he was glad he had been a guinea pig in the testing facility two years ago, but he still had nightmares of the great pain he had been in to this day.

"I don't want tea. I want to capture the Avatar." Zuko growled, swatting the tea that had been offered to him away.

"Avatar, Avatar, Avatar." Ren muttered to himself, sitting down. "That's all you ever talk about. Don't you ever have anything else on your mind?"

"No! Why would I?"

"Oh I dunno, maybe cause you're a boring stick in the mud with anger issues?" the tiger-wolf said, waving his now empty cup dismissively. Zuko growled at him and Ren could feel the heat waves radiating off him, giving him a high definition image of the prince wallowing in his anger. _And self-pity. _He thought with an inward snort. Turning to Iroh, he blinked and said; "How long did you say it would take to get to the North Pole?"

"Two weeks my furry friend. Two long weeks." replied the fat man.

"Lovely." he growled in response. The idea of being adrift at sea with an obsessive-compulsive; in his mind that is; prince for any amount of time didn't bode well with him, even though he had been with the motley crew for six months now.

"Well, look at the bright side-"

"What bright side?" Ren cut in abruptly, glaring at Zuko with his blind eyes as the prince continued to melt a hole in the ship's deck.

Iroh cleared his throat and continued. "There's plenty of time to drink tea and tell embarrassing stories about my nephew over there." Ren couldn't help but grin at that, for he had been told stories about Zuko's childhood before, and found them quite amusing.

"Hey princy boy, the ship is gonna give out from under ya if you don't cool it." he said with a smirk, his eyes closed as he held another cup of tea. Taking a sip, he put the cup down on the table that had the pot on it and stared at him, the image of him glaring darkly at him implanted in his mind as the heat waves he sent out to be able to determined his surrounding picked up the prince's expression.

Zuko stomped away muttering curses under his breath, most of which were directed at Ren, and going up into his room to vent in private. The two left on the deck waited until they heard the door slam from the inner most reaches of the ship before they burst out laughing, Iroh slapping his knee and Ren rolling on his back clutching his sides.

-Two Weeks Later-

"Finally! Its about time we got to this giant ice box." Ren yowled in exasperation. He could feel that the temperature had changed drastically since he went to sleep the previous night. Iroh yawned beside him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes while Zuko paced impatiently at the very front of the ship's deck. The tiger-wolf's ears pricked in surprise as he heard something. "Flare at 3 o'clock, 300 feet up." he said calmly to the prince.

Zuko looked up and his eyes narrowed in pleasure. "Well well, seems as though the Avatar is alive after all." he muttered with a smirk. He yelled something to the man who was steering the ship to head for the flare and grinned evilly as he watched the flare slowly slink downwards.

Sighing, Ren sat by the rail and stared down at the water sightlessly, hoping for the sake of humanity that the flare was just a flare, and not the Avatar. He may hate the Fire Nation as a whole, but, in the past two years, he had come to realize that the individuals didn't deserve to be hated, they were just following their leader like any loyal citizen would. But he also knew that the Fire Nation as a whole was not to be trusted, and had learned that himself.

He had made the mistake of trusting a Fire Nation solider and following it into a camp before his intelligence had been boosted and he had become part human. That had lead to him being taken to the testing facility and changed forever. _Never again. _He snarled inwardly. He had learned not to trust the Fire Nation very quickly, even though he was technically Fire Nation himself, for he had been born, had grown up in, and had a family in the Fire Nation. And he was a fire bender as well.

After about an hour, they pulled up to a Water Tribe Village and went ashore, destroying one of the walls in the process. Ren stood beside Zuko and tried to get a feed on the power levels of those in the village. None of them seemed to bee all that powerful, but one of them seemed to have the ability to bend. He could also sense a powerful force behind them, and hid a smirk as he figured that it was in fact the Avatar.

Zuko meanwhile glance around them and scowled. "Well? Where is he?" when he received no reply, he grabbed an old lady and yanked her harshly from the crowd. "Tell me where he is and I won't kill the old woman." Ren growled as he felt fear radiate from every person before him and jumped backwards just as a blast of air knocked Zuko off his feet and onto his neck, his helmet landing on his butt. Snickering and turning his attention to the boy whom had landed gracefully in front of them all he was surprised to sense that his child had the power that he had sensed before.

"Looking for me?" the boy demanded.

"Aang!" gasped a young girl from the crowd. Zuko growled and stood up, brushing snow off of him, and glaring at the boy.

"You're the Avatar? You're just a kid!" he snapped. Aang didn't reply, and Zuko's scowl deepened. His amber gaze snapped to Ren, who was standing to the side. "Ren, capture him." he ordered.

"Who me?" Ren said surprised. "Naw, I could never hurt a kid. You're on your own princy boy." several villagers gasped at him and the tiger-wolf smirked, sitting himself down in the snow. Zuko glared at him and and attacked the Avatar. While he was preoccupied, Ren started to herd the villagers back, out of range of any stray fire blasts. A couple of them refused to be pushed back, but quickly changed their mind when some stray embers burned their flesh.

Behind him, Aang stopped fighting abruptly and put his hands up in surrender, saying something that Ren couldn't make out over the protests from the same young girl from before. He sensed that the Avatar was being taken to the ship and went to follow them, but a blast of fire stopped him. He glared at Zuko, who glared right back.

"Oh no you don't you traitor. You get to stay here." he said sourly. Ren was about to protest, but thought differently and sat down with a huff.

"Hey, I never wanted to be saddled with you in the first place, so you're doing me a favor." Ren snarled back, embers being spat from his mouth as his temper rose. Zuko walked away, back onto the ship, ordering the helmsmen to pull out. Sighing, Ren turned his sightless gaze to the villagers. He could sense that they were traumatized, and stared sightlessly at the snow by his paws.

A chunk of snow smacked him in the side of the head and his head snapped to a young boy who was armed with a boomerang to throw next. "Get lost you mutt." the boy snapped. "You're not welcome here."

"Ah, but I know where princy is gonna take your precious Avatar." Ren replied, shaking the snow from his head. "Besides, I'm not your enemy. I want to help you. If I didn't I would have followed Zuko's orders and attacked the boy." he shrugged and stood up. "But, if you don't want my help, if you _want_ the Avatar to become a stuffed head on the Fire Lord's mantle, hey, who am I to tell you otherwise." as he started to walk away, he stopped and turned around partly. "Oh, and if you want to catch up to them, I suggest you get something faster than a row boat." he stared pointedly at the boy and the young girl who had called the Avatar 'Aang' before turning back around and padding away slowly, jumping gracefully over the wreckage that was the walls of the village and disappearing from sight.

_**Okie dokie! There's chapter 1! I hope you like it. And if you want to see exactly what Ren looks like, go to my deviantart page, .com, and check out my gallery. Review!!**_


	2. Chapter 2

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 2- Follow the Leader

Ren heaved a huge sigh as he scaled an icy glacier, following Zuko's ship at a steady pace. His paws were frozen, and he was having a hard time 'seeing.' _That's the problem with the cold. It makes it harder to create heat waves... _he growled to himself, pushing off the glacier, landing on a chunk of ice that was floating twenty meters behind the ship. _I hope those kids have an easier way than this to follow_. Grunting, he landed precariously on another chunk, one back paw slipping into the cold water. He had to bite his tongue to keep from yelping.

"Man this sucks." he muttered to himself. Leaping onto an iceberg, he left claw marks as he slid down it a few feet, the slushy snow making it hard to grab onto. Struggling some, he managed to reach the top and turned around, concentrating extra hard on sending heat waves out to find the Water Tribe kids, if they were following. He barely detected them still quite a distance back, on some sort of huge animal. "They'd better move faster than that, or I'll have blown the dern ship up already." he growled, jumping off the iceberg, back onto ice chunks in the water, making sure to land in the center, or risk plunging into the freezing water.

By the time the kids had gained the ground, Ren was running behind the bow of the ship. He could hear them talking quietly, cringing, knowing that soon any watchers would hear them too. Jumping upward, he managed to grab onto the spike that stuck out behind the ship, pulling himself up with a grunt. The tiger-wolf padded quietly, keeping an 'eye' and ear out for any patrolling guards. Slowly, he made his way below the deck, following the Avatar's scent trail. Eventually, he found himself right outside Zuko's door, and could make out Zuko's voice, speaking in a boasting manner. Rolling his sightless eyes, he jumped back as the door was blasted off it's hinges.

As the Avatar ran out, he Ren managed to grab onto the leg of his pants with his teeth, making him slide to a stop. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" the child demanded.

"Quiet! Do ya want the entire ship to hear ya?" Ren snapped, his ears folded back. "Follow me. Yer friends are on their way, but it'll take some time for them ta get here if their pace is any indication." he turned and warily made his way down the corridor, toward the engine room. "If they ain't here by the time we get to the engine room, I'm gonna blow up the ship." he said over his shoulder to the Avatar, who was clutching his staff nervously.

"What do you mean blow up?"

"Exactly what I said. Were ya not listening?" Ren snorted. "Don't worry. We'll have gone by then." he stiffened when he heard shouts behind them, gulping. "C'mon!" he cried, racing around the corner and into the storage bay. The two slid behind a large bag of potatoes just as some guards ran past the door. One stopped and entered the room, looking around slowly. Ren growled, stalking behind a crate of salted meat, ready to jump on the guard. The guard made his way farther into the room, Ren creeping up slowly. When he was two feet behind him, the tiger-wolf snarled and jumped on him, clamping down on his neck, making him black out. "Let's move! Forget blowing the dern hunk of metal up. We gotta get outta here!" he cried to the Avatar, who jumped up and followed him to the top deck.

The Avatar spun his staff around, opening it up, and was about to take off when a blast of fire made him skid to a halt. Zuko was blocking his path, a disgruntled and furious expression on his scared face. The boy could here Ren snarl behind him, accompanied by the pounding of many feet as soldiers rushed onto the deck, surrounding them. The tiger-wolf roared in defiance, a wave of fire being spat from his mouth, scorching those on the front line. The Avatar meanwhile attempted to move Zuko with a blast of icy air, but the banished prince firmly held his ground.

"C'mon kid, think of somethin'!" Ren growled. The boy could feel his short tail pressed against his leg as the tiger-wolf was forced back. As soon as the words left his mouth, a wave of water rushed around them, knocking back the soldiers.

"Aang!" yelled a girl's voice. The deck shook as Appa, Aang's bison landed on it. (A/N: I'm not sure if Appa could fly again by this point. I don't remember)

"Katara!" the boy cried in surprise.

"About dern time!" Ren yelped as the soldiers pushed him into a corner. He roared, blowing them back with another wave of fire. He couldn't tell what was happening with the others, but his was in deep trouble. No matter how many times he burned the soldiers, they came back for more. Just as he was being overwhelmed, a huge wave of water swept them away. Ren could sense a huge amount of power coming from Aang, and gaped as he 'saw' the boy surrounded by a spiral of water, which was washing the soldiers away. Just as soon as the power appeared, it vanished, and Aang fell to his knees.

Zuko was nowhere to be seen, but when the Water Tribe boy went to retrieve Aang's staff, the prince was on the other end. The boy bonked his in the head three times, allowing him to fall to the anchor, hanging there until his men rescued him. Ren shook the water and soot out of his pelt, padding toward the trio. The Water Tribe kids tensed, but Aang got to his feet and walked forward to meet him.

"Thank you. I honestly don't know if I could have escaped without you." he said sincerely.

Ren nodded. "No problem kid."

"You can come with us if you want. I'm sure that what's his face won't like that you're back on his ship."

The tiger-wolf considered this for a brief second before shaking his head. "No. I have other plans. Hopefully we'll meet again, though in better circumstances."

Aang nodded and watched as he walked over to the side, jumping over it, clinging to an iceberg for a brief second, before leaping away nimbly.

_**-Several months later, just after Aang met Toph in the earthbending match-**_

"Man this bites." a boy of about fourteen sighed as he swept the doorstep of a shop. He was somewhat tall with tan hair that had dark gray and off-white streaks in it. His eyes were cloudy, the pupils a pale turquoise, the irises being slightly darker, meaning that he was blind. It was none other then Ren, who had recently discovered that thanks to the Fire Nation's testing on him, he could alternate between human and tiger-wolf forms. He used human to fit in better obviously. "It just ain't right making a blind kid work." he complained, just loud enough for his boss to hear.

"If you don't like it kid, then quit." the man said gruffly. Ren glared sightlessly across the street, ignoring the man. Growling under his breath, he propped the broom against the inside wall and sighed again.

"I'm done for the day." he said in a clipped tone, waving over his shoulder. He slowly made his way around town, not really having anything to do, but not wanting to go home yet. He eventually found himself in the richer part of town, where he knew a blind earthbender lived. He had met her once, though only in passing on the street when he was on another one of his walks. Because he was blind, his remaining senses were sharper, and he could feel minuscule vibrations pass under his feet whenever the girl took a step. He was sure that she could feel the nearly unnoticeable heat waves that he used to see as well, but didn't bother losing any sleep over it.

When he came back into focus, he found himself outside the girl's house. He had wound up there a couple times before, and had climbed the walls, hoping to find out more about the girl, like how she learned to earthbend. Each time though, he had been catapulted out by a wall of earth, courtesy of the girl herself. That had resulted in being chased down the streets by the family's guards.

Shaking his head, Ren walked quietly up to the family's plaque, which had their symbol and name on it. He placed his hand lightly on the characters, running his hand over them to read it. _Bei Fong eh? She belongs to the richest family in the town? _He mused silently. "I wonder what I could find out if I went through the city's records." he laughed at the chances of even getting into town hall, which weren't good, and proceeded to climb the wall. When he landed softly on the other side, he noticed three other figures crouched behind a bush not to far away. His eyebrows shot into his hair line when he recognized the Avatar's power.

He snuck up behind them quietly, making sure that his footfalls were nearly undetectable to the girl. "What are we looking at?" he whispered when he was right behind them. All three jumped up, smothering yelps. They turned to see him crouched behind them, grinning like a mad man.

"Who are you?" Katara demanded quietly.

"Me? I'm just the one who saved the one and only Avatar from the clutches of former-prince Zuko. Who else?" he replied innocently.

Aang regarded him for a moment before it clicked in his mind as to who the boy before them was. "Ren?"

"The one and only. Now pipe down. Do you want the entire town to know we're here?" Right as he said that, the ground shook and they landed in a group of bushes a few feet away.

"You again?" the girl cried, though Ren wasn't sure who she was talking to, he was face down in a particularly prickly bush. Sitting up and spitting out a mouthful of leaves, he slid off the bush and brushed himself off. "What do you want?" the girl demanded, though she wasn't speaking to him.

Ren listened vaguely as Aang frantically explained himself. He sensed the girl round on him raised his hands defensibly, though he knew better than anyone that she wouldn't see it. "Hey, I just happened to come across them."

"Why _do _youkeep coming here anyway?" she demanded harshly.

"Well, seeing as we're both blind, it's only natural that I'd be curious as to how you get around so easily. I myself use firebending." he paused and waited for her to scream for guards. When she remained silent, he continued slowly. "I'm assuming that you use earthbending?"

"Yes, now get out." she snapped, making Ren shrink back some.

"Wait, Toph. Please just listen." Aang said.

Toph sighed angrily before clearing her voice of any anger. "Guards! Help! There's a firebender!" she cried, making Ren stiffen.

"That's just low!" he yelled, back peddling frantically, skiddering to the wall and climbing over quickly. He hid in another person's yard until he sensed Aang and his friends get kicked out as well. "Stupid cheating girl..." he muttered as he dropped in front of them quietly. "So what now?"

"What do you mean what now?" Katara demanded. Ren could feel her glaring at him. "You can leave and _we _will find a way to get inside."

Ren narrowed his eyes and strode up to her, taking big steps until he was in her face; standing about a hand taller. "Just because _one _Fire Nation platoon attacked your village, and _one_ Fire Nation prince attempted to capture the Avatar, doesn't mean that all firebenders are evil little girl." he growled, his hands clenched at his sides. "I hate the Fire Nation as much as you do. They're what made me what I am. A tiger-wolf who can shape-shift and speak the human language. I was stuck with _Prince _Zuko," he spat the banished prince's name venomously, "for three years before we wound up at the South Pole. You can't even begin to grasp the horrors that the Fire Nation's royals commit. Animal testing, mutating their own soldiers to create super warriors. That's just naming a few." He backed up and glared at her sightlessly. "So don't open your mouth unless you know what you're talking about." he finished coldly.

Aang and Sokka stared at him in shock, their mouths open. Katara looked like she was about to cry. When Ren turned back to the boys, his expression had no hint of the malice that had rumbled in his throat seconds before. "So how do we get back in?" he asked.

The Avatar and Water Tribe boy exchanged astonished glances before Aang replied. "I hate pulling this card, but..."

_**-At dinner-**_

"I'm surprised to find the Avatar traveling with two Water Tribe children and a Fire Nation boy." Toph's father said glancing nervously at Ren, while Toph sat miserably, glaring at him; who was across from her; who glared back, but not as harshly. Ren snapped his sightless gaze to the man and sniffed.

"I'm not from the Fire Nation _sir_. I just happen to firebend." he said with an icy edge. He turned his 'gaze' back to the plate in front of him and took a discreet sniff, seeing as the 'image' he got was just lumps of... something... on the round plate, and some form of liquid in the bowl. The next thing he knew, his was face down _in _the plate, and discovered that it was fish with vegetables and rice, with some sort of gravy. Peeling his face out of the plate, he glared at Toph, who—though he couldn't see it—was grinning like a fox. Twitching, he wiped the food of his face as best he could, exhaling deeply, smoke coming out of his nostrils. Staring coldly at Toph, he picked up his fork and melted it partially, sticking it in her food just as she was going to take a bite of it. She got the fork stuck to her spoon, which was now stuck to the plate. When she pulled back, not knowing that it they were stuck together, the plate wound up in her face.

Ren could barely contain his laughter. But then he was on his back, his chair pitched backwards. Growling under his breath, he rolled over and set his chair right, his face red. The corner of his mouth twitching, Ren burned Toph's food to a black crisp as she was taking another bite, making her gag on it.

"What's your problem!?" Toph yelled, standing up.

"What's _your _problem!" Ren cried back. "Do you have some sort of complex with firebenders too?" he demanded, glancing heatedly at Katara, who shrank back. "Or is it just me that you don't like?" he continued more quietly.

"I couldn't care less if you were a firebender or not! And yes, it is just you that I don't like! It seems to me like you're stalking me. I've come across you five times in the past month, four of which were on the grounds. What is it about me, or my family, that fascinates you?" Ren could feel her hard gaze boring into his, though he was sure that she couldn't make out shapes just by using the earth to see. "Are you planning to rob us or something?"

He snorted and crossed his arms. "Heck no girl. I couldn't care less about _money_."

"Then what is it?" she waited for a couple minutes of awkward silence before snapping. "Well?"

Ren's reply was barely audible. "I don't know..." on that note, he turned on his heel and walked quietly out of the room, leaving the rest of them in uncomfortable silence. Toph eventually sat down with a huff, crossing her arms.

About an hour later when everything was cleaned up, Ren and the rest were in their designated guest room, talking quietly. "I just don't get it. What did I do that made her not like me? Before today, I've only 'seen' her in passing."

Aang shrugged. "I don't know. I don't understand it either." he paused for a heartbeat before continuing. "Hey Ren, is it me or has your vocabulary improved in the past few months since I've run into you? You don't seem to slur your words as much or use slang terms." he looked at the mutated tiger-wolf, who was sitting on the open window's ledge. Ren looked at him and blinked.

"Well, I figured that I should spend as much of my time as I could doing so, so that should I ever run into you or any Fire Nation," he made a face as though the mere thought of running into Fire Nation left a bad taste in his mouth, "again, I'd be able to talk easier. And what do you know, it came in mighty handy." he shrugged and leaned against the window ledge with a sigh.

He 'looked' at Katara out of the corner of his eye and huffed, though more out of annoyance than anger. "Quit moping girl. I say strange things when I get worked up. Try not to take too much of it personally." he half-apologized. The Waterbender didn't say anything, which made Ren roll his eyes. "I'm goin for a walk. Yell, or scream, or blow something up if you need help." he pushed himself off the window and landed softly on the grass below him, pushing off on the balls of his feet to gain momentum and stand up, taking a long stride. Before anyone could call out, he had turned a corner and vanished behind a large hedge.

"So you take walks when you're upset do you?" came a voice from near by. Ren extended the range of his heat waves to find Toph standing on a stone bridge that crossed a small canal that ran through her family's garden.

"What do you want?" he asked quietly, not facing her. Not that it really mattered though.

"To talk. I heard what you said to that Katara girl. I tend to say things that I don't mean when I'm worked up too." she hopped off the bridge and strode up to him, taking light steps, though Ren could feel slight vibrations coming from where her feet fell. "You use firebending to see?"

"Yeah, its sort of like expanding your whole being outwards, bouncing back when it hits something around you. Kinda like sonar that bats use." he replied as she stopped beside him. "And you see with your feet?" he joked, smiling slightly.

"Yeah I do. How did you know?" she could feel Ren shift his weight to his heels and back. "You can feel the vibrations? Even through your shoes?"

He nodded. "Yes. Because I've been blind my whole life, my other senses are much sharper. I would be able to hear better than normal humans regardless, but its sharper than even that should be. My sense of smell would also be better regardless, but its sharper as well, and my sense of touch is stronger than normal too. I can't really say if taste is the same way..." he trailed off with a chuckle.

"So how much can you 'see' with your firebending?"

"Everything. I can make out the patterns of bark on a tree, facial features on people and animals, the way water in a river ripples when it flows. But within a limited distance." Ren thought for a moment before continuing. "About one hundred meters. That's as far as I've been able to stretch it so far without it turning into a flame."

He sensed Toph nod in understanding, though wasn't sure if she really got it. "I'm not really sure how far I can 'see.' I've never paid any attention." they had started walking down the path again. "But I can see everything from that rock over there, to those ants. As long as its touching the ground, I know its there."

"Can you make out their shapes going up from where they're on the ground?"

"No, just the shape of what's on the ground." Ren made a slight sound of agreement, but came up short when he sensed something approaching them at a high speed.

"Get down!" he cried, shoving the girl back. He rolled to the side right as two iron cases slammed into the ground. Growling at the two men, one pudgy, the other thin and muscular, dropped on top of them. "Who the heck are you?" he snarled, contemplating transforming back to his original form.

"Impressive for a blind Fire Nation brat." the thinner one sneered, making Ren growl louder. Toph was still sprawled on her butt, staring sightlessly in astonishment that Ren had been able to react so fast.

"I do not belong to the Fire Nation! They're the scum of the universe if there ever was one."

"You say that, when you were created to serve the Fire Lord." the man replied coldly.

Ren stiffened, narrowing his eyes. "How do you know so much about me?"

"I make it my business to know about any powerful entities. Now let us capture that girl and the Avatar, and we'll be on our way. That's what you were bred to do right? Do the Fire Lord's bidding?" Ren could feel himself slipping into a rage as the man continued to taunt him. "And the Fire Lord has decreed that the Avatar is to be captured and turned into him on sight. You wouldn't disobey your master would you?"

Ren clenched his eyes shut to fight the red that was taking over the normal black that he saw. He couldn't keep his anger down and felt his muscles tense. _No..._ he didn't want an innocent girl to 'see' what he really was. "He doesn't control me! No one does!" he snarled. Snapping his head toward Toph, he tried to keep his voice level. "Get inside! Tell your parents." he ordered. "Now!" the girl scrambled to her feet, but was grabbed by the pudgy man, lifted kicking and screaming into the air and thrown into one of the containers. Ren stiffened. "Die!" he yelled, leaping at the man, feeling himself transform in midair. He never managed to land a blow on the man though, a rock collided with his head and he was knocked out.

_**I am sooo sorry that this took so long! I lost inspiration right after I finished chapter one and could just never pick it back up. So I made this one extra long for you who waited patiently... Let me know what you think!**_

**_On another note, irronically, I was listening to Riot Girl while writing Toph and Ren's argument at dinner... eh heh..._**


	3. Chapter 3

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 3- Rumble

"Holy crap... what hit me?" Ren groaned, sitting up in the iron case, rubbing his head. He noticed that he was somehow back to his human appearance. Thankfully he got smaller; a little; when he changed back to his original form, so his clothes were still in tact.

"Finally awake?" he heard an echoy voice to his left. Sending out heat waves automatically, he noticed that Toph was in a case a few feet to his left, and that they were suspended about fifty feet above the ground.

"Yeah... what happened?"

Toph was quiet for a couple seconds before she sighed and responded. "I'm not sure. All I heard was you yell 'die' a roaring sound, a thwack, then a thump. Then I guess you were thrown in the case and dragged away with me."

Ren grunted and touched the metal in front of him lightly. The coolness made him flinch slightly, but he pressed his palm harder against it and tried to melt it. It took a second, but he could gradually feel the iron give way some. "I think... I think I can get us out of here..." he muttered to himself. _Let's just hope I don't burn myself to death first._

Breathing in deeply, he pulled back his fist and slammed it into the side of the case. The heat of his firebending melted the iron and allowed his fist to go through. Grabbing onto the sides, he melted it a bit more and pulled it apart wide enough for him to squeeze through. He yelped when a rock hit the case just as he got his shoulders through, making it sway violently. He had to clutch the sides hard or risk plummeting to the ground. "Geez..." he grunted, slinking the rest of the way out, balancing precariously on top. Another rock hit the case and he lost his footing and slipped, grabbing the side just in time. Ren laughed in a scared manner and glared at the ground.

"What's your problem buddy?" he called to the man below. His response was another rock that grazed his ear as it shot past. "Crud." he grunted. Judging the distance to Toph's case, he jumped across the small gap, making her let out an involuntary scream as the case shook as he landed. "Sorry." he said through the gap in the front. "Back as far as you can get so I don't burn you accidentally." When he was sure that she was far enough back, he burned a hole in the case, turning twice to blast rocks that were chucked at him. "C'mon." he pulled Toph out of the case, holding her securely so she wouldn't fall.

"How do we get down?" she asked, clutching his arm for dear life.

Ren swallowed, blasting another rock. "I'm working on that."

"What?! Couldn't you have come up with a plan before you got me out!" she screamed, hurting his ears.

Ren ignored her and examined the chain that held the case to the ceiling far above. "Say, how far is the surface from here? Assuming we're underground."

Toph was silent for a while. "I'm not sure."

"Then we'll have to improvise." Toph gulped and steeled her nerves as she heard another rock explode. "Hold on tight." she heard him say in her ear as he adjusted his grip around her middle. She heard a boom and felt air rush past her as they dropped. They were almost thrown off the case as it jolted to a halt about ten feet above the ground. The air by her ear whistled as a rock flew past, and was sure that it grazed Ren's shoulder, but didn't have time to ask.

Ren grabbed her and started scaling the chain as high as he could, making sure that she was secure. "What are you doing?" Toph demanded. "We want to go down, not up."

"That was just in case we fell. Something to grab onto before we go splat." he grunted, hauling himself up another couple of feet, having to use only one arm. He cried out when a large stone hit his shin, almost killing his hand as they slid down a few feet. Ignoring the pain, he climbed to the very top and clutched the ceiling, thankful that there were large spike hanging down.

"What's your plan?" she heard him snicker and was suddenly moved onto his back, gripping his shoulders tightly.

"To get as many of these as we can to fall. Hopefully, it will distract boulder head down there long enough to allow us to get out of here."

"And if it doesn't?"

"We fight him." he paused before continuing. "This is more fun." grabbing onto the first spike, he placed Toph's hand on it and told her to make it drop. Just as it started to fall, he jumped onto another, doing the same, then another and another. Eventually, they got them to fall relatively quickly. Leaping as far as he could, Ren almost missed the chain as they free fell, locking his feet around it as well to slow his decent some. He hit the ground running, Toph still on his back. Dropping her to the ground, he lead her almost to the edge of the arena before the man regained his wits.

"Not so fast." he sneered, a particularly large rock in his hand. "I haven't collected my fees yet."

"Where's Aang... he should be here by now..." as if on cue, the Avatar along with Katara, Sokka, and Toph's parents ran into the sidelines of the arena. "Nice of you to show up!" he called, ducking as the stone whistled past his ear. Nudging Toph toward them, he turned toward the man. "Go to your parents, I'll handle him. And all the others that are hiding."

Toph almost made it to her parents before she stopped and turned. "No."

"Toph! What are you doing?" her mother cried.

"You're no match for them." her father said more sternly. "Let the _firebender_ handle them."

"No." she repeated. "I'm not weak. I've beaten them once, and I'll do it again." Ren turned to look at her with respect in his blind eyes, but didn't move. "Get out of here unless you want to be caught in the crossfire." she snapped as she strode past him.

"Be careful kid." he muttered as he ran to the sidelines. "C'mon, she can handle it."

Mr. Bei Fong looked at him skeptically, not moving. "How do you know? She's small, and blind. She can't possibly beat them!" he snapped. Ren glared at the taller man, knitting his eyebrows together slightly.

"Because I know what its like to be a blind bender. Now move!" he shoved him harshly and they eventually made it up to the stands, up as high as they could get so they wouldn't be squashed by any stray boulders. Ren's senses went haywire as he tried to keep up with the chaotic fight. Even though he was trained to do so, it still made his head hurt some.

By the time the fight came to a close, Toph's father was staring open mouthed at his daughter, and his wife was no better. "Let's leave the flies to the frogs now." Ren muttered as he strode down the stairs with Aang. The others were still in a frozen stupor, except Katara who was trying to wake them from said stupor.

"That was amazing!" Aang cried as they reached Toph.

"It was nothing." Toph said, though in a boasting tone. She glanced in Ren's general direction, as he was standing several feet back, and grinned. "So how much of it were you able to follow with your all-mighty firebending?" she asked sarcastically.

Ren snorted in a good humored way. "Most of it. My head hurts, but you're quite an amazing bender." as soon as he finished, his leg gave out and he yelped in pain. "Gah! That stupid slime ball! He broke my leg!" he snarled, clutching his leg in agony.

"You're just now noticing it?" Aang asked, his eyes wide.

"I noticed it before, but was able to ignore it. My muscles just went slack is all." he tried to stand up, but fell onto his butt with a grunt.

"Katara! Hurry, we need your help!" Aang called into the stands.

Ren grunted. "Don't be silly. I'll be fine in a couple days. I'm a trained warrior let's not forget." he managed to stagger up right but had to support most of his weight on his uninjured leg. He felt his shoulder and ear throb as well, brush burns from some of the other flying projectiles.

"Sit down." Katara demanded as she reached them.

Ren glared at her, but didn't have much of a choice, his leg gave out again and he wound up on his back. Toph made sure he stayed down by sealing he arms to the ground with rock cuffs. He struggled for a couple seconds but gave in with an indignant huff. Now that he was flat on his back, Toph could make out his general shape. He was somewhat tall, about a foot taller than her, with leanly muscled arms and legs. She could feel his muscles ripple when they had been scaling the ceiling minutes ago, and with her legs locked around his stomach had been able to tell that he was skinny, but not gaunt. She shivered slightly when she remembered the feeling of the firebender's warm breath on her ear when he had been situating her more comfortably before he started climbing. How he had gently held her wrist with his surprisingly soft hand to tell her where to crack the rocks. Toph had to admit, she liked the feeling, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind for future reference.

When Katara finished healing his leg, leaving the brush burns on his shoulder, and his slightly nicked ear be—they weren't bleeding, and she figured that they would be healed in a few days anyway—Toph released him, letting him sit up to rub his wrists. "Are my hands purple?" Ren asked Aang, staring at his hands with his sightless eyes as though he thought he would be able to see them that way.

"No. A little red, but no." the Avatar replied with a laugh.

_**-Later that night-**_

__"It sucks that Toph's parents won't let her come with us." Ren said.

"Us?" Sokka asked, confused. "What do you mean us? Who said you're coming with us?"

"Aang. I've apparently been recruited as your inside informer on firebenders. And so on and so forth. I've already explained that I can't teach him firebending, I didn't learn the way Toph did. I was born able to firebend. I didn't learn. I just improved." he shouldered his small bag and grinned. "Besides, I have a feeling that I'm the only one who'll get your horrible jokes."

Sokka nodded, a pleased smile on his face before it clicked that it was an insult, not a compliment. "Hey!" he shouted, but Ren wasn't listening any more, he had walked off to help Aang load Appa up, tossing bags to the Avatar in a steady rhythm. Just when they were about to take off, Ren sensed someone running their way.

"Hold up Aang." he called from the back of the saddle. Sliding down Appa's tail he slid behind a tree, making sure to stand on the roots. "Roar!" he yelled, jumping out in front of Toph, making her scream, skidding to try and stop. She caught her foot on a root and tumbled into Ren, sending them both to the ground. "Well that didn't go as planned..." she heard him groan beneath her. "Hi!" he continued in a more upbeat tone. "Sneak away from the sticklers did you?"

Toph scrambled off him, kicking him in the ribs before he could sit up too, glaring at him. "Why'd you do that?" she snapped.

"Cause it was funny. Or it was supposed to be." he popped his back. "It just wound up being painful." he laughed, making Toph grin despite herself.

She sighed and punched him playfully in the arm. "To answer your question, yes. They're gonna send out a high alert, but who cares. I hate the rich life anyway. They would never understand." following Ren back to Appa, she looked up the beast's back at Sokka. "I'll take my belt back." she said, holding her hand up. Ren winced, knowing what was coming as Sokka tossed the belt at her. _Clang_.

_That couldn't have felt good..._ he muttered to himself. Picking he belt off Toph, who was laying dazed on the ground, he peered sightlessly down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you dead?" he murmured.

The response was him being catapulted into a tree. "That's for scaring me you jerk!" she yelled good humorously. Everyone but Ren laughed.

_**-Training-**_

"Keep your knees high twinkle-toes!" Ren heard Toph yell at Aang, making him sigh.

"Screaming at the kid isn't going to help." he commented as he carried an armful of wood he had found with Katara in a nearby forest. They had been on better terms since they had set out with Toph with them.

He sensed the Water Tribe girl nod, and she echoed his sigh. "He needs encouragement, not harsh yelling." she agreed. Ren grunted and flicked a stone into the air with his bare toe, waving his free hand at it, making a small blast of fire that sent it flying into Toph's head. Not fast, but enough to get her attention.

"Take it easy on the kid Toph." he said, setting the wood down next to Appa for later. "He's a beginner let's not forget."

"Mind your own business Sparkle-butt." Toph shot back, though Ren could sense that she was grinning. _Since when am I 'Sparkle-butt' though...?_he asked himself with a raised eyebrow.

Ren sighed and turned toward the two. "What are you doing exactly?" he peered blindly at Aang, who was blindfolded, clutching Sokka's club like it was his lifeline.

"What does it look like? Earthbending." Toph said like that solved everything.

"I realize that, but why does he have a Sokka's weapon?"

"It's hard to explain." Aang said, his voice shaky. A rock popped out of the ground and he tried to hit it but missed by half a second. Ren glanced at Katara and rolled his eyes.

"My word..." he grunted. "Here's a tip Twinkle-toes. Don't worry so much about timing as accuracy. Use your ears and let your reflexes do all the work. You body's defensive mechanisms will kick in if you listen carefully and think of the rocks as a threat. At least that's the general idea." he shrugged and piled the wood into a tee-pee, lighting them with a flick of his hand.

"I think I get it now."

"Good. Take it from someone who's used their ears for a majority of their lives. Toph could tell you the same." he crossed his legs and leaned against Appa's side, rolling his shoulder which was still hurting some from when the rock had grazed it the day before. "Speaking of, has anyone _seen _Sokka?" he asked absently.

"I think he left to find food a while ago." Katara said. "He should be back soon."

Ren folded his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. "Well he's a big boy. He can look after himself I'm sure." he was just starting to drift into a light sleep when he picked up something Toph said.

"Ok. I'm going to roll this boulder down the hill at you and you are going to stand there, like a rock, and block it with earthbending." he sat up so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.

"Hold on a second there Toph! Don't you think that's a little extreme?" he stood up and trotted over to the two, Katara just behind him. "I mean, he's just a kid, and no where near your level of earthbending—no offense."

"None taken." Aang replied with a shrug.

"Besides, earth is his natural opposite. Just like water is mine. I think you should hold off on the... more extreme techniques. At least for now."

Toph didn't reply, but Ren could tell that she was glaring at him. "I think Ren's right Toph." Katara said, trying to cool down the girl's temper. "Wait a little longer until you try this."

After a couple seconds, Toph sighed and gave in. "Fine. He has until sundown to get the basics. Otherwise he's gonna be in a world of pain when he gets flattened."

Aang winced, not liking the sound of that. Ren slapped his forehead and sighed. "Alright... I'm no Avatar, but let me try some of what you're doing. I'm sure that having someone demonstrate for him that hasn't been doing it for years will help him. What do you say?" he glanced between Aang and Toph. Aang nodded, any chance to get a break from being beaten up by Toph and her boulders. Toph considered this for a moment before nodding.

"Ok. But don't cheat by using your firebending."

"I won't." he shut off his firebending and his world went completely black, instead of red tinted images of his surroundings. Toph tossed him Sokka's club and he caught it just before it hit his head, hearing the wind change.

Closing his eyes to concentrate better, he heard the ground rumble two feet to his left and swung the club down, shattering the rock, swinging it around like a sword to smack one that popped up to the right. It went sailing into the canyon wall, followed closely by two more as he hit them. He moved fluently, never missing a beat, his feet sliding and twisting accordingly and his torso twisting to get more reach.

Aang was absolutely amazed at the way Ren moved. He was like a well oiled machine, not a spring or rod out of place, alert and swift. Efficient. With the training of a warrior, and the natural grace of a wild animal, he hit each rock dead center with just enough force to break it off its foundation and send it rocketing into the wall or into another rock. And yet the Avatar couldn't figure out why Ren had been traveling with Zuko; a banished prince with no place in the world; and then living a poor life in an Earth Kingdom town. He could have been a high ranking officer in the Fire Lord's army.

The thought made Aang shiver, and he looked at Ren with new respect as he stood up straight and opened his eyes. He could feel the air shift, becoming a fraction of a degree warmer as Ren sent out heat waves again to be able to see. He twirled the club in his hand and tossed it to Toph, who was standing to the side trying to hide her surprise.

"Wow..." Aang breathed. "I think I understand now. All I have to do is concentrate on my other senses besides sight and I'll eventually get better."

"That's the general idea. Of course I forgot to mention that I'm a highly trained warrior and blind or not, I would have been able to do the same regardless." he shrugged and ducked as Toph sent a rock sailing over his head.

"Cheater!" she yelled, grinning despite herself.

"What? I can't help my training. And you only said not to use my firebending, so I can't be considered a cheater." he said with an equally big grin as he walked past Toph, patting her on the head and sitting back down next to Appa. "Good luck getting flattened." he called, closing his eyes and drifting into a light doze.


	4. Chapter 4

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 4- Oolong Tea

_**(Ba Sing Sei)**_

"Wow... this is one heck of a city..." Ren murmured to himself from his place beside Toph and Sokka as they followed Katara out of the train station. "It'll take forever to search the whole thing!" he stuffed his hands in his pockets and sighed. He was wearing a simple pale green shirt with a red vest over it that had gold straps to secure it. His pants were baggy and a pale red, so he looked like he just left the Fire Nation, but he hadn't. In fact, he had bought it all at an Earth Kingdom store that had never had any Fire Nation influence. Besides, the style was Earth Kingdom so he was wasn't going to be attacked. He had dark brown gloved on his hands that were conveniently fire proof—which also hid the Fire Nation emblem that had been tattooed on his palm back when he was in the laboratories—and his simple shoes were the same color.

"Let's try to be optimistic guys." Katara said.

"Yeah. With Sparkle-butt here, we can search as much ground as ten people." Toph playfully punched Ren, who rubbed his abused shoulder absently.

"I dunno guys. That only works for things on the surface that I'm on. If Appa's underground or in a building somewhere we could walk right past him and never know." he said, staring blankly out over the city.

"Yeah but don't you have this super powerful sense of smell." Ren twitched at Toph's comment, knowing she was the only one who didn't know his secret amongst the five of them.

"I'm not going to be your personal search and rescue dog but yes." he hated being a tiger-wolf sometimes...

Katara and Sokka couldn't help but grin at his expression and the Water Tribe girl lead them down into the city, hoping to run into Aang sooner or later. When they found their guide, Ren—who could read facial expressions thanks to his firebending—took a step back at the huge, almost possessed grin that the woman was wearing. He shuddered as she spoke in an overly happy voice, but at the same time monotone, and lead them to their honorary house. As soon as she left, he sat down heavily on the floor beside a window and shivered. "Creepy woman. There's something not right about her."

"Besides the fact that she's a grinning freak?" Sokka asked, having taken a seat at a table with Katara and Toph.

"Yeah. It seems like the atmosphere in the city's too calm to exist during a war. It's like they don't know its out there and getting closer by the day." he leaned an elbow on the window ledge and sighed. "You know what, I'm going into the sewers to brush up on my firebending. Don't wait for me." he hopped lightly to his feet and trotted out the door.

_This place is giving me the freaks. I can understand why the Fire Nation's avoided it for so long. Its just plain creepy. Ozai probably didn't want it rubbing off too soon. _He mused to himself as he walked to the nearest sewer entrance, slipping inside seemingly unseen.

Shaking his head to clear the smell out of his nostrils and concentrate, he started to firebend over the more or less wide canal of green mucky water. He slipped into almost a trance as he sparred with the air and didn't notice the soft foot steps approaching until he felt a blade slice across his side. Letting out a yell of pain, he turned on the person.

He had spiky, thick hair and carried two grappling hooks as weapons, one of which was dripping with blood. "Who are you?" Ren demanded, slipping into a defensive stance.

"That's none of your business firebender. Your kind is not allowed in this city." the man snapped, slicing at him again. Ren knew he couldn't defend himself by firebending, but couldn't react in time with the wound on his side to avoid being cut across the face twice by a downward cutting motion that the man made. Closing his eyes, Ren thought carefully, and listened to the man's quiet steps.

"You think I can't hear you moving?" he snarled as he swung his arm out, ramming it into the person's chest, sending him flying into a wall. He pinned him and their faces were two inches apart when Ren opened his eyes. "One of the qualities of being blind." he sneered. "I'm traveling with the Avatar boy. I'm no threat to this city." he dropped him and started to stagger away when the man called out.

"Wait. You're traveling with Aang? Their in the city?" he asked. "I Katara with them?"

"You know them?" Ren asked, turning around half way.

"Yes. I'm Jet. They know me, though they might not be happy to see me. I've done some horrible things in the past, but I've changed. I'm sorry I attacked you, it was instinct."

"Yeah well. You might not want to tell them that if you run into them. That might get you killed. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back." he staggered away, using the wall for support as he felt his blood leave his body slowly. He managed to get to the surface and collapsed in an alley way, vaguely hearing two voices, one old and wise, the other scared and young, speaking not too far off and let out a groan to let them know he was there. He heard them continue to speak, but felt a hand on his back just before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Some hours later, Ren let out a strangled moan of pain as he woke. He didn't know where he was or how he got there, and didn't want to know, but he had to get back to his friends. They had already lost Appa, and were sure to be freaking out over his disappearance.

"Ah so you are awake my young friend." said a voice to his right. It seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. "Good. I was afraid that I would loose you. Your wounds are great, especially the one in your side. May I ask what happened?"

Ren kept his eyes closed, and didn't have the energy or state of mind to send out any heat waves yet. "You wouldn't understand." he murmured, keeping his voice low though it sounded strangled even in his ears.

"You seem familiar. Have my nephew or I run into you in the past?"

Ren sat up, grunting as he felt the skin on his side pull some from the scabbed over wound. He felt it and discovered that it was bandaged tightly, and that he was shirtless. _I really liked that shirt too... and the vest. _He whined to himself. "Perhaps. What's your name? And where am I?"

The man didn't answer for a heartbeat and Ren tensed, ready to defend himself, but the man just chuckled from deep in his belly and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You are in my apartment young man. My nephew should be back any minute. Why don't you open your eyes?"

"When you're like me, there's not much point." he grunted. "My name's Ren, by the way. Now tell me yours." he continued, forcing his voice to remain light as his head throbbed.

"Ren? That name is familiar. Ah yes, it is the name of a young tiger-wolf that my nephew and I were traveling with for three years. But my nephew sent him away when he did something that he didn't like. We haven't seen him since."

Ren felt the blood drain from his face and his eyes snapped open. He scooted as best he could away from the man and narrowed his eyes into a glare, feeling the skin on his face pull as he did so. "Iroh?" he breathed. There was silence for a minute before Iroh seemed to recognize Ren.

"_You_ are the tiger-wolf?" he said in wonder. "How is it that you have acquired a human appearance?"

Growling, Ren stayed as far away from the man as he could. "Your stupid nation's testing how else?" he snapped. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my friends. They've already lost one of our group and are sure to be freaking out if I don't get back soon."

He was about to get up but a voice from the front room stopped him cold. "Uncle I found the tea that you wanted." it sounded disgruntled, but not angry in the way that Ren remembered.

"Ah Zuko welcome back. We have familiar friend here." Iroh called, despite the frantic way Ren was shaking his head.

"Oh really? Who?" Zuko asked as he walked into the room.

"Ren." Iroh motioned to the boy on the bed, who slapped a hand to his face but withdrew it with a yelp.

"Crud! What did that jerk do to me?" he felt his face, tracing the deep slashes that trailed from above his right eye, across his nose and down to an inch above his jaw. The other slash started below his left eye, criss-crossed the other one just before it passed over his nose, and stopped below his mouth, having missed it completely. "I'll kill him..." he growled.

"Wait a second, back up!" Zuko cried. "_This _is _Ren_? How is that possible?" Iroh shrugged.

Ren glared at the banished prince. "Could one of you spare a shirt? I need to get going."

"You're in no condition to be going anywhere." Iroh said sternly. "We're opening my tea shop tomorrow, stay until then to give your body time to recover." Ren was about to protest, but let out a strangled cry as his side throbbed painfully.

"Whatever..." he crossed his legs, placing his hands on his knees, closing his eyes, thinking hard. "So why are you two in Ba Sing Sei?" he asked, figuring that it was better to strike up a conversation the be stared at. He finally felt the fire in him flicker and sent out heat waves to be able to 'see' where they were and what they were doing.

"It's hard to explain. Let's say we're refugees and leave it at that." Iroh said with a sigh before grinning. "I will go fix us all some tea. You two talk until I get back." it was more of an order than a request, so Zuko sat down across from Ren, who was staring at him hard, his blind eyes focused and sparking with intelligence.

"So..." Zuko trailed off, not sure what to say.

Ren remained silent for a moment more before sighing and leaning on elbow on his knee, placing his head in it, blinking slowly. "You don't seem as angry as you did a few months ago. What happened? Get slapped in the face by your own pride?" he meant it as a joke, but was surprised when he sensed Zuko nod.

"Something like that. My sister tried to kill me and Uncle so we ran. I've stopped hunting the Avatar, at least for now, and we've been here for a month or so. What about you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ren tried to come up with something to say other than he was traveling _with _the Avatar, but couldn't come up with anything. Sighing he gave in. "I've been traveling with the Avatar for a couple weeks now. Their flying bison was stolen and we think that he was sold here in the cit somewhere. I was down in the sewers brushing up on my firebending when I was attacked by an old friend of theirs. That's how I wound up here." he paused, gauging Zuko's reaction. "If you so much as think about hurting or hunting Aang, I'll remove the only pride you have left." he growled, glaring at Zuko, who gulped, shifting nervously.

They were quiet for a while before Zuko sighed and leaned back some. "So you went from traveling with me to traveling with the Avatar. I'll say, I think you'd be better off with them." he said, not looking at Ren.

"Well, I spent a few months in an Earth Kingdom town where I met Toph, Aang's earthbending teacher. From there we started traveling around training and trying to come up with a way to beat your father." he sensed Zuko wince and had to smother a grin. "I can't say I like the nomadic life, but I also can't say that I like staying in one place for a long time." he sighed. "My whole life I've been trained to obey the Fire Lord. I've been tested on and mutated into this..." he motioned down at his seemingly normal human body. "And I'm coming to realize that what I'm doing might not be right." he closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly.

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, sitting up straight. Ren was about to reply when Iroh walked in with a tea pot and three cups.

"Here you go. Oolong tea. Great for relaxing." he poured Ren a cup and handed it to him. When he took it he almost dropped it, noticing for the first time that his gloves were gone. "Your gloves are on the table beside you. When I was wrapping your wounds, I removed them." the old man paused. "Why do you have the Fire Nation emblem on your palm?"

Ren stared sightlessly down at his left hand, blinking sadly. "The laboratory that I was tested and changed in put it there. I suppose they knew that I would acquire a human form and they didn't want me running off."

"But you ran off anyway." Zuko snorted.

"More like _you _drove me off and I just went my own way." Ren said in a matter-of-fact tone. Zuko twitched and was about to say something, but he noticed that Ren wasn't paying attention to him anymore. He had slipped into his own thoughts and was staring blankly at the floor, his eyebrows furrowed. There was more to Ren then what he showed on the surface. Zuko could practically see the inner war raging in the mutated tiger-wolf's mind, and he was sure that his uncle could see it even more clearly.

_**(Next day in the tea shop)**_

"You know you could at least help." Zuko remarked as he walked past Ren with a tray.

"Hey, I'm injured. Besides, its not like I'm in the way or anything." he shifted in the his seat, staring out over the shop, 'watching' customers come and go.

"Uncle, we need another order of White Tea." Zuko called as he came back. Ren noticed someone at the door and extended his range of heat waves.

"Finally a familiar face..." he grunted. Turning to Iroh he grinned. "I gotta go. Thanks for your help." he adjusted his new shirt, which was an almost exact replica of what he had been wearing the day before. Slipping out of the chair, he walked stiffly to the door, following Katara out as she ran down the street. "C'mon I'm not that scary!" he called with a laugh. Katara slid to a stop and turned around, her eyes wide.

"Ren!" she cried. "Where-oh my word! What happened?" Ren came to a stop beside her and sighed.

"An old friend of yours happened. I was firebending in the sewers just minding my own business and he comes out of no where and attacks me. I suppose its only right, and I can't blame him for reacting on instinct." he shrugged, wincing as the wound on his side pulled.

"What were you doing in that shop?" the waterbender asked as they walked through town.

"Well, when I staggered out of the sewers to try and get back to you guys, Iroh found me and brought me to his apartment. He fixed me up and I had a bit of a conversation with him and Zuko. Not like I had much of a choice, I'm still having trouble moving around."

"Did they hurt you?"

Ren blinked and laughed. "No. They aren't like that. Even Zuko's not."

Katara looked ready to protest, but stopped herself and sighed. She lead the way back to their house and Ren was almost immediately tackled by Aang and Toph, making him yelp in pain as they crashed to the ground.

"Where were you!" Toph yelled in his ear, punching his shoulder. Ren sat up and held his side tenderly, explaining what happened. Aang helped him up and he walked over to the table, sinking into a chair with a painful groan.

"I didn't know you'd miss me so much." he remarked to both of them, though his 'gaze' was centered on Toph.

"Of course we would!" Aang cried. "You're our friend. We already lost Appa, we didn't want to loose you too." there was silence for a couple minutes before Aang continued. "We're going out to put up posters. Do you want to stay here?"

Ren considered this for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I think that would be best. That kid did a number on me." he chuckled and leaned back.

"Ok. Toph can you stay here?"

Toph glared at the Avatar and was about to reply but Ren cut her off. "Wait a minute now. I'm not an invalid. I'm just in pain. She doesn't have to stay here."

"No, I'll stay. Not like I can be much help anyway as far as putting up posters goes." she said it in a lighthearted manner, but Ren could sense the resentment in her voice. He had the same problem, so he could sympathize with her to a point.

Aang smile apologetically and grabbed a stack of papers, followed by Katara and Sokka. When they were gone, Ren looked at Toph, who was glaring at the ground. "You _can _go with them you know." he said quietly.

"No. I want to stay here. You're the only one besides Sugar Queen that has any sense in this group, so it was either go with them and be useless or stay here and keep you from dieing of boredom."

"Glad you have so much faith in me..." Ren whispered, smiling.

"So what did Jet do to your face?" Toph asked suddenly. "I heard Aang ask you what happened to it."

"He basically tried to turn me into mince meat. He managed to get my side and face pretty good before I got the upper hand. I couldn't firebend at him, that would be wrong and get us all kicked out of the city or arrested."

Toph said nothing for a moment before taking a deep shaky breath, trying to keep her voice level as she asked her next question. "Can I feel?" Ren almost fell out of his chair.

"What do you mean?"

"Your face, the slashes that he left you dunderhead!" she snapped. Ren laughed quietly and complied. Toph stepped forward slowly, raising her hand. Ren enveloped it in his own and brought it to his face, allowing her to feel the contours of his cheeks, the shape of his nose. He closed his eyes and felt Toph's hand twitch as they slid over his eyelashes and eyebrows, tracing the slashes lightly. She ran her fingers through his bangs, a few of which hung in his face. Soft and comforting.

He was warm, and she felt safe as she ran her fingers over his jaw, memorizing every detail. She let her hand trace the line of his neck, feeling it vibrate as he chuckled, taking her hand again, holding it in his larger one. Toph's hand felt warm in his own, and she wanted to stay like that forever, but knew she couldn't.

She suddenly found herself thinking about her parents. When they held her hand, it was to keep her from the outside world, to keep her from being happy. When Ren held her hand, she felt warm and safe, like she belonged. She felt free as his warmth traveled up her wrist, and for the first time, she was 'seeing' shapes. That's when she realized that he was allowing her to see using his abilities. He transferred his firebending into her hand and up her arm, to her heart and brain and sent it out wards, so she could see like he did, if only for a little while.

"Is this what you see?" she whispered as red tinted images filled her mind. "Is this _how _you see?" she could see his shape and expression perfectly, though she couldn't make out colors other than red. She could see that he was smiling softly at her, his eyes half lidded. She could see the slashes on his face faintly, and the curves of his clothes as he leaned forward in the chair, holding onto her hand.

"Yes. I see not only with my firebending, but with my heart and mind. It is one of the purest forms of sight, and yet even I don't understand it fully." he reached up and wiped a stray tear that had fallen from Toph's eyes away. "You can only see this way if your firebending is as pure as your heart. But my heart is the furthest from pure. The things I've done... the things I'm _doing... _they're horrible." he whispered the last part. Toph could barely hear him.

"What do you mean?"

He took in a deep breath, shaking his head. "Never mind. It doesn't matter." he smiled softly at her again and let go of her hand. The images stopped and her world went completely black again save for the vibrations she felt. Letting out a whine of protest, she let her hand stay in the air, reaching out for him to take her hand again.

"I'm starting to wish that I was a firebender." she remarked, her hand falling limply at her side.

Ren laughed and stood stiffly. "No. You don't want to be a firebender. It's not something that's accepted in the world anymore." Toph took another step toward him, but stopped.

"I accept you. So do Aang and Katara and Sokka. Doesn't that matter?" Ren looked at her in surprise and his smile faded. He placed a warm hand on her shoulder, allowing her to see through his eyes again.

"Yes it does. I wasn't saying that, I'm just saying that fire is powerful and dangerous. Corrupt. I've... been taught my whole life to hate and kill anyone who's not Fire Nation. And it goes against everything I've ever known to travel with the Avatar instead of turning him in to the Fire Lord."

Toph found herself thinking about her parents again. They never spoke to her in such a caring way. At least, not true care. They were scared for her, and thought she was weak and fragile. Walking the fine line between life and death and constant intervals. Ren knew she was strong, and he knew that she could take care of herself. He understood her more than anyone. He knew what it was like to be different. And even though he was blind like her, he could still 'see' more. She looked around the room, taking in the red tinted images that were being transferred to her mind, blinking tears out of her eyes.

This was as close to sight as she had ever gotten, and she wanted it to never stop, but she knew that it would as soon as Ren removed his hand. Sniffling she closed her sightless eyes and bit her tongue to keep from sobbing. Without even thinking, she wrapped her arms around Ren's torso and held on for dear life, crying into his chest.

She felt him hesitantly wrap his arms around her, not really knowing what to do, but not wanting to do nothing. "I hate being blind..." he heard her whisper into his vest. "I hate being considered weak by my parents and everyone around me. And I hate that my only means of sight is earthbending. Its not even real sight. Its vibrations... I can't make out shapes of things once they're off the ground... and I can't see what people look like." she knew she was being a cry baby, but she couldn't keep it in anymore. "I wish I could be more like you."

She tightened her grip on him, feeling his right side tense as she squeezed the gash on his side. He sighed and sat down bringing her with him. "You don't want to be like me Toph. I'm not who I say I am..." he hesitated. "I'm not human..." he whispered, burying his nose in her hair as she curled up in his lap, sobs shaking her body.

"Wh-What do you mean?" she stuttered, her ear pressed against his chest, listening to his heart beat.

He didn't reply, but after a while he took a deep breath and let out a low hum. It eventually turned into a lullaby that Toph recognized from when she was still really young. She felt her eyes drooping and her breathing becoming calmer. She loosened her grip on Ren, curling into a ball against him her head rested against his shoulder as he continued to hum quietly. Sniffling one last time, she closed her eyes and slept.

_**Aww... now then... what does Ren mean by 'what he's doing' eh? You'll find out in the next chapter, which I'm gonna start on right away. So far this is my favorite one. I think that Toph deserves love so I'm working toward that slowly... Tell me what you think!**_


	5. Chapter 5

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 5- Truth

Toph woke up about an hour later, still held by Ren, but something was different. She shifted and felt something soft rub against her cheek. Reaching up, she ran her hand through it and found that it was hair. She traced up and found a rib cage, still covered in hair, which she discovered was fur, until she found a jaw bone. Running her hand up it she felt soft ears and a long wide muzzle with a cold nose on the end. _Am I dreaming? _She thought.

Moving her hand down, she traced a shoulder and an arm, down to the most unusual paws she had ever felt. There were four long digits, almost finger-like, that curled under some, and a fifth one that was almost like a paw. She felt the creature let out a deep breath and stiffened. _Please don't eat me..._ she thought, clenching her eyes closed. For the first time, she noticed baggy clothes around her arm, blocking it from the outside world against the fur, and she realized that this was Ren, recognizing the material of his clothing.

_Is this what he meant by not human? Oh my word... what is he? How is this possible? _She wondered, slowly retracting her hand from under the shirt, about to roll away from the animal and run, but it shifted and she felt one of the unusual paws grip her shoulder.

"This is what I am Toph... a freak... a tiger-wolf who can shape shift and speak the human language. You're the only one that didn't know until now. I never wanted you to know." she heard him say, his voice more guttural. She felt his paw change back to a hand and eventually he was back in his human form, his clothes twisted, but still on. "Go ahead and run... it won't matter... I won't hold it against you." he picked her up off of him and set her beside him, straightening his clothes out and standing up.

"Wait." Toph called, holding her hand out. "Don't go..." she whispered. She heard him stop and took in a breath. "Please Ren... don't leave."

He said nothing, but he didn't move either. Toph stood up and walked up to him slowly, trying to keep her composure. She slipped her arm around his and tugged on him, but he didn't move. She could feel his firebending travel up her arm again and could make out his expression. He was cringing, as though her touch hurt, and his eyes seemed to shine even though she couldn't make out things like that clearly through red tinted, and very dark images. It was like how a bat uses sonar, but constant, dark and slightly blurred, but enough to make out fine details. She could tell somehow from his expression that he was trying not to cry.

"Please." she said a bit stronger, tugging again. This time he looked at her and closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You're not scared? Or disgusted?" he murmured.

"I'm a little shaken up and confused, but no. I'm not. I know I'm normally acting tough and rough around the edges, but you're the closest thing to a friend I've ever had. Even Aang and the others don't fully understand or accept me, no matter how hard they try to." she tightened her grip on his arm, feeling his muscles tense as she did so, but they relaxed right after.

"I've noticed the way they look at me when I firebend, or when I say something. They don't fully trust me, and they have no reason to. I've never really done anything to gain their trust."

"Yes you have. Didn't you save Aang?"

"Yes, but I was really just trying to keep Zuko from getting what he wanted. Regardless, I feel out of place, and sometimes I feel like I should just leave and never look back." he frowned at the floor like it had offended him or something. "But I can't..." he whispered.

Toph looked up at him and blinked in confusion. "Why not? Not that I want you to, I'm just curious."

Ren looked at her and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted when Aang and Sokka burst through the door. He quickly jerked his arm out of Toph's hold, but didn't move away from her. "What's going on?"

_**(A few hours later)**_

Ren sighed as he followed Aang and Iroh quietly down into the catacombs of the city. They didn't know that he was following them and wanted to keep it that way. The tunnel that Aang was making seemed to go on forever until he felt a rush of cool air and heard Katara cry his name. Ren made sure to stay hidden in the shadows of the tunnel until the right time.

Eventually he heard Azula's voice and decided that now was the time to make an appearance. Right as Azula attacked Aang, Ren did the same, firing a fireball into the crystal caverns, not really aiming at anyone. "Ren! What are you doing here?" Aang cried.

Ren didn't reply, but kept his senses alert, tracking Zuko and Azula, as well as Iroh and Katara. Aang took a step toward him, and Ren jerked back, shifting his stance to where he was facing the Avatar.

"Ah Ren." Azula purred. "Nice of you to show up."

"Azula." he greeted in a gruff voice, not turning his attention away from Aang.

"What's going on Ren?" Aang demanded. Ren felt his heart lurch and his stomach churn. Aang was his friend, and what he was about to do would change that forever. "What are you doing?"

"What I was trained to do." Ren growled, firing at the Avatar, making him yelp and jump back.

"I thought you were my friend!" he yelled, dodging another fireball.

"Friend?" Azula barked, fending off Katara. "He was pretending! He's my father's favorite soldier after all." Ren blinked angrily and let out a pained breath as the wounds on his face pulled.

"I'm sorry Aang..." he whispered as he attacked again. Aang sent a blast of air at him, sending the tiger-wolf rocketing into a spire of green crystal. Letting out a deep breath, standing up straight. He fished something out of his pocket and held it up. It was a Fire Nation badge, showing that he was a secret agent. "My hatred for the Fire Nation is not false, but I know no other way. I'm sorry, but this is something I must do." he attacked again, this time he sent the fire at Katara, allowing Azula to attack Aang.

"Traitor!" Katara snapped, wiping at him with water. "We trusted you."

Ren evaporated another whip and growled. "All is fair in war and peace Katara. Trust means nothing." he clapped his hands together and formed a blade of fire, slashing through the water and grabbing her collar, holding the blade up. His eyes saddened and he blinked. "Tell Toph the truth, and tell her I'm sorry." he whispered, jumping back as Katara attacked again, this time though, he was joined by Zuko.

As the battle raged, Ren's thoughts kept traveling back to the past few weeks. Was this really right. Was he doing what his heart thought was right...?

_Yes..._ he thought, though he didn't believe it. Slashing downward with the blade, he evaporated Katara's water again, giving Zuko a chance to attack. Ren spun and deflected a blast of fire that was sent his way by Iroh. "What are you doing?" he growled.

"This is wrong. You know that it is Ren." the old man said sternly. "These are your friends."

Ren snarled. "I have no friends..." he whispered, too low for anyone to hear. He heard an explosion to the side and stared wide eyed as Aang plunged to the ground, having been electrocuted by Azula, who was grinning. He was bowled over by a wave of water as Katara rushed to save him, and sat up spluttering in time to notice them go up a waterfall and Iroh be surrounded by crystal.

He remained on the ground, staring at the mud below him sightlessly, thinking about what he had just done. _I'll find them again, and make things right... this isn't what I wanted... but... _his thoughts trailed off and he ran a hand through his wet hair. _What have I done?_

_**-Toph-**_

"He did what?" Toph yelled from Appa's back as Katara held Aang, who was unconscious. She had just told them what had happened in the catacombs.

"Ren betrayed us Toph." Katara said simply. "He told me to tell you what happened and to tell you he was sorry." she sucked in a deep breath. "His eyes... they were so sad... he didn't want to do what he did, but it was the only way he knew." Katara turned slightly and tried to smile reassuringly at Toph, but the girl wasn't paying any attention. She was hugging her knees to her chest, trying not to cry.

"Why would he do this?" she whispered sadly. "I thought he was our friend."

"Well obviously he's not." Sokka said, hating Ren for hurting his friend and sister like this. "If we ever run into him again, we'd better be on our guard." Toph sniffed and buried her face in her arms, sobbing quietly.

They heard a hawk cry behind them and the red bird landed on Appa's saddle, looking at Toph with intelligent eyes, cocking its head. Sokka looked at it and noticed that it was a messenger hawk. He took the message and read it out loud.

_Toph,_

_I can't be more sorry for the things I've done. I know that you or any of your friends will never forgive me. I don't expect you to. I released Iroh, he doesn't deserve to rot in prison. He will try and rendezvous with you as soon as he can, and hopefully he can teach Aang firebending. I will be thrown in prison in his place because I helped him escape, but not for long. I'm too valuable to Ozai. But I will not help him win this war. _

_I've made bad choices in my life, serving the Fire Lord is all I've ever known, but I will try to change. I hope that this message reaches you, and that you know that under different circumstances, I would have never betrayed you._

_I wish you well on your journey, and I will send a messenger hawk as often as I can to keep you updated with Ozai's plans. Azula has been deemed the ruler of Ba Sing Sei. With Aang's fall, the city fell as well, and was claimed in the name of the Fire Lord. She suspects treachery in her ranks, but I will not give myself away._

_If you hide in the Fire Nation, you will not be suspected if disguised. Keep your heads low, and do as much as you can to turn this war to your favor._

_ Maybe we'll meet again, but under better circumstances?_

_With all I am, _

_Ren_

Sokka sent the hawk away, knowing that there would be no return message, looking sadly at Toph, who was staring wide eyed at the gray clouds around them. He looked at the note again. The script was fine and elegant, impossible to obtain for a blind person. But then again, Ren had amazed them in the past.

"What should we do?" he asked, looking from Toph, to Katara and Aang, who was still passed out.

Katara was silent for a minute before she sighed. "We go along with it. We have no other choice." she didn't look happy about it, but there was a not of finality in her voice. Sokka nodded and looked at Toph, who was still dazed, and sighed. This was going to be a long war.

_**(Several weeks later)**_

Ren grunted as he pulled on his armor. The Fire Lord had wanted to speak to him personally, and he had a suspicion as to what he wanted. Carrying his helmet under his arm, the blind firebender walked down the palace corridors to the Fire Lord's throne room.

"Ah my young friend." Ozai greeted him, spreading his arms out in a welcoming gesture. Ren bowed stiffly and knelt. "Prompt as always."

"What is it you want my lord?" Ren asked quietly.

Ozai raised an eyebrow but shook his head. "Always to the point with you isn't it? Very well. I want you to find a school to your liking on one of the islands and pose as a student. I believe that it would be better to make sure my subjects aren't trying to revolt if they don't know they're being watched by soldiers day in and day out."

Ren thought for a moment. He was starting to feel restless in the palace, and wanted to travel. _No..._ he thought. He wanted to find the Avatar and his friends. He wanted to regain their trust. "Very well my lord." he said, standing.

"Just a moment Ren." Ozai said, stopping him. "I also want you to keep an eye out for any rebels that are trying to gather. The eclipse is coming and there is likely to be an invasion."

"Of course." Ren said shortly. Walking out of the throne room, he couldn't help but grin to himself. Oh, he'd keep an eye out all right. But that didn't mean he would stop them. Packing his things, he set out for a small island with a quiet village about a day's journey from where he was. It had been several weeks since Aang had fallen in Ba Sing Sei, and he had sent seven messenger hawks. He didn't know if they reached their destination but when they came back, their pouches were empty, so he assumed they had. Jotting down a quick note, he went to the tower and plucked the hawk he had been using each time from its cage, placing the note inside its pouch. "You know who to find. Don't let me down." he rubbed the bird's head affectionately and let it fly away.

_**-Fire Nation School-**_

Ren sighed inaudibly as a boy was shoved into the room. _Great... another rule breaker..._ he grunted, having been in the school for a couple days and already had encountered several kids who were determined to cause trouble with every step they took.

"Ah, a new mind ready for molding?" the teacher asked. She lectured him about proper etiquette and about no head gear indoors.

"I... have a scar... It's really embarrassing."

"We have a student here who has scars on his face. He doesn't have anything to cover it." she motioned to Ren, who waved absently.

"Ma'am. His doesn't criss-cross his whole face." he said in a bored tone, not noticing the boy stiffen.

The teacher stared at him hard, and Ren stared right back, letting a cold gleam creep into his gaze. She eventually had to look away. "Very well." she sighed, motioning for him to take a seat in front of Ren. Ren examined the boy's power levels, sensing something off about him. He detected a faint glimmer of something familiar and stiffened. _Aang... what are the chances...? _he mused.

He slowly drifted into a daydream, waiting for school to end so he could confront Aang... hopefully. When he heard the bell ring, he gathered his things and stood, waiting for Aang outside the door. When the boy walked out, he stopped when he saw Ren, and looked like he was going to run. "Relax _Kuzon..._" he sighed, pushing off the wall. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"What do you want?" Aang demanded. Ren motioned for him to follow and lead him off the campus and to the beach, standing on the black sand and staring over the gray ocean.

"What do I want?" he echoed finally. "That's a good question... Forgiveness? I'm not holding my breath. A chance to prove that I'm not the monster that the Fire Nation turned me into. Not likely. To be your friend again. Impossible." he said with a shaky sigh."Oh, and nice hair."

Aang remained silent for a while before he sighed and stepped up to stand beside Ren. "Why did you do it Ren?"

"I don't know... instinct maybe?" he shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "Did my messenger hawks all reach you? I sent eight, one right before I left to come to his school a few days ago."

"Yes. What I don't understand Ren is... You betrayed us, then you help us by sending us any inside information you can get your hands on. What are you? A Fire Nation soldier, or our friend, who made a mistake and is trying to fix it?"

Ren regarded the Avatar for a moment. "Both." he could feel the heat from the sun disappearing. "You should get back to your friends. They're probably worrying about you by now." he smiled ruefully at Aang before walking off down the shore, his hands folded behind his back.

"Bye Ren..." Aang whispered, racing off back to the cave that he and his friends were hiding in.

_**(The next day.)**_

Ren jerked upright when he heard one of the popular boys yell, and felt the heat of firebending. "Great..." he grunted, pushing off of a wall.

"What did you say colony trash? You want to _show _her something?" the boy said, in a defensive stance. Ren snuck up behind him and swept his foot out from under him, making him do a split, his voice shooting up an octave.

"Cool your flames pal. He's just a kid. You're just a kid." he said, glaring sightlessly at the boy.

Ren looked up at Aang and Angie, both of which were staring wide eyed at him. He blocked a wave of fire that the boy sent at him and grabbed him by the back of his neck, lifting him up. "Quit acting like a spoiled brat and start acting more like an adult. This is your last year of school and after that, you're going into the real world. Attitudes like that won't be accepted."

"Who are you to talk?" he boy snapped, trying to get out of Ren's hold.

"Where do you think I got these scars? Shaving?" he growled in an eerily calm voice. He narrowed his eyes, looking him in the eye for the first time. It was also the first time that the boy noticed his unusual eyes.

"Can you see me?" he asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I can. But not the way you see me." Ren let go of him and shoved him to the ground, standing on his chest, crouching by his ear. "Life isn't all fun and games kid. Not everything will be handed to you on a silver platter. Take it from someone who speaks from experience." he chuckled darkly. "You see, I'm one of the Fire Lord's favorite assassins, but he sent me here to look for any possible rebels. I could kill you with a flick of my hand, but I won't cause that's just the kind of good person I am." he stood up and stepped off the boy, looking at Aang sadly, before turning and walking away, out of the courtyard, and down to the beach.

He had never really walked that far down the beach, but he figured that the longer he walked, the calmer he'd be. Eventually he found himself at a cave, and it seemed uninhabited except for fresh footprints that he could sense in the black sand. "Someone's coming." he heard someone whisper, thanks to his extreme hearing. Slipping behind a rock just as someone peered out, he was surprised see Sokka and realized that this must be where Aang and his friends were staying. Before he could think more on that, he was catapulted into the sea by a sudden jerk of the rock below him. Sitting up in the ankle deep water, he spluttered and found a club at his throat.

"Ren?" Sokka snapped in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Didn't Aang tell you anything that happened yesterday?"

"He said he ran into someone he knew, but didn't say it was you."

Ren sighed and stood up slowly, keeping a keen eye on Sokka's club. "Well, the Fire Lord sent me here to look for any possible rebels. He knows there will be an invasion at the time of the eclipse, and wants to be sure that the forces will be small and weak. But he never told me to do anything about any rebels. I'm not going to help him win this war." he grunted, wringing his clothes out as best he could. "Where are Katara and Toph?"

"Where's Aang?"

"He should be along shortly." Sokka narrowed his eyes before nodding, satisfied with his answer.

"Come with me." he lead the way into the cave, but Ren was immediately bombarded with rocks and water. He had to firebend or risk being beaten to a bloody pulp. He blew up the rocks that flew his way and evaporated any water. "Whoa guys! He's not a threat!"

_Yeah no kidding..._ Ren groaned, wincing as he felt his arms and legs throb.

"What's he doing here?" Katara demanded, still in a defensive stance besides Toph. Sokka quickly explained everything, and they slowly relaxed. "If you so much as produce a spark-"

"I won't!" Ren cried. "Look, I know I hurt you in the past by betraying you in the catacombs, but that's _in the past_. I know where I stand now."

Katara narrowed her eyes. "Let's not forget who sent you all the messenger hawks with vital information that you wouldn't get otherwise." he growled, becoming annoyed with the girl's stubbornness.

"Fine..."

Sokka looked between the three and came up with an idea. "Katara, can I speak to you alone for a minute?"

"What?" Katara replied skeptically. Sokka just motioned for her to follow and she did, keeping a close eye on Ren. "What is it Sokka?"

"Just listen to what happens between those two. They seem especially close." he said, hiding behind a rock in earshot.

"Toph..." Ren took a step forward, but a rock blocked his path. Placing his hand against it he sighed. "I know I hurt you... and I know that you have no reason to forgive me, but at least hear me out." Toph remained silent. "Please..." he murmured, his voice cracking.

"Why?" she finally said. "Why would you turn on us?"

Ren quickly explained everything that had been going through his head when he had turned on them, every little detail. He said that the only thing he could ever think of when he was in the palace was somehow; even if it took a life time; regain their trust. He knew it was probably hopeless, but didn't care, he had to try.

Eventually, Toph lowered the rock wall and stepped forward. "I never wanted any of this to happen. I would have gone against Azula, if I had been stronger... but I couldn't. She would have killed me just like she killed Aang." he sighed, wanting to sink into the ground and disappear.

Toph regarded him, before holding her hand up. She wanted to 'see' him again clearly. Ren laced his fingers with her and granted her wish, transferring his power to her, allowing her to see the honesty on his face. She could see the emotions sparking in his blind eyes, the want to be accepted, to be forgiven. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "I missed you..." she whispered.

He hugged her back tightly, his heart fluttering. "I missed you too..." he buried his nose in her hair and inhaled her scent, smiling. He finally felt like he belonged somewhere, even if it was only for a minute.

_**Wow... I'm on a roll today... Let me know what you think!**_


	6. Chapter 6

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 6- Freedom

While they waited for Aang to get back, Katara, Sokka, and Toph filled Ren in on what had been happening since he had betrayed them. He was surprised that Iroh hadn't found them yet, but he figured that he would show up when the time was right. The whole time, Katara was watching Ren suspiciously, waiting for him to attack, but he never did, but when he sensed her gaze grow especially hard, he would glare right back at her, which made her look away quickly.

Finally Aang slid down the embankment above the cave and ran in, stopping short when he saw Ren. "I see you've met again?" they nodded in unison and Aang sighed. "Anyway. We're having a dance party tonight!" he announced.

"A what now?" Sokka demanded

"A dance party?" Ren and Katara said at the same time.

"Yeah! The kids at school are so stiff. They need to learn what true freedom is. And that's through dance! They'll be here tonight so we'd better get ready."

Toph and Ren exchanged blind glances. "I dunno Aang..." Toph started.

"C'mon please?" he pleaded, making his voice as pathetic as he could manage. They finally gave in and started to prepare. Toph gave Ren a lift to the ceiling of the cave along with bundles of hay and some rope. He tied some hay together and stuck it to the roof, lighting it, spreading the fire out evenly. When Toph lowered him to the ground, Aang made a few large pillars where people with musical instruments could stand and play. They also made tables and a fountain, which Katara filled with water. Ren found some flammable rocks outside and placed them on the tables, lighting them to provide extra light. As soon as Aang got Appa into the back of the cave, the students started to arrive. Ren, Katara, Sokka, and Toph all sat at one table as Aang tried to get them to dance.

"This is just sad..." Ren muttered, covering his eyes and shaking his head. "These kids don't know how to dance. Their whole lives have been about being stiff and orderly."

"Oh be quiet." Toph said, punching him playfully. Eventually Aang got a majority of the kids to dance, and began dancing with Katara himself. Ren rolled his eyes and stood up, feeling left out.

"C'mon Toph. We may as well join in."

"What? I can't dance!" Toph protested as Ren hauled her to her feet.

"You'll learn." he replied, grinning as he dragged her to the dance floor. He told her to copy what he did exactly, standing behind her to move her arms to the right places. Toph blushed as he moved her hands and arms gently as he stepped around, moving slowly deliberately to allow her to copy him. "Now at full speed." he said once they got the whole thing down, which didn't take that long. He started moving a bit faster and Toph managed to keep up as he moved gracefully around her, drawing attention toward them from Aang and Katara, who had finished their dance.

At the end of the dance, Ren had Toph dipped toward the floor, and was close enough for their noses to brush. "What did I tell you?" he whispered, his breath coming in short pants. Toph grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck so he could lift her upright. Ren could feel her face heat up as he lifted her off the ground and set her on her feet, but he didn't relinquish his hold until a couple seconds later, allowing her to 'see' all the people who were looking at them and cheering.

Suddenly the cheering stopped and everyone turned toward the cave entrance to see the headmaster of the school and some guards standing there. "They're the ones. The boy with the headband and the boy with the scars!" he pointed to Ren and Aang.

"Uh oh..."

"Time to go." Ren muttered. Toph cringed as the crowd compressed around them, and they slowly made their way to the back of the cave. Ren had to duck behind the students a few times to avoid being grabbed. Just before Aang raised a wall of rock, he extinguished all the flames in the cave, making it go pitch black. They jumped on Appa and took off, flying over the sparkling water and the dark land below them quickly. Toph had her arms wrapped around Ren's and Katara and Aang were sitting up front.

"You can take the beard of now Sokka... we're safe." Katara remarked.

"Oh no. Its permanently glued to my face." Ren reached over and ripped it off, making him squeak in pain, clutching his chin. "What was that for?!"

"You look like Ozai with that on... but stupider." he remarked flatly, making everyone besides Sokka laugh.

_**(Western Air Temple- Post-Invasion)**_

"Well that was a wash..." Ren grunted as he tromped beside Toph, his arm up in a makeshift sling and a couple burns on his sides from Azula. They had been walking for hours and they were starting to get tired.

Toph stopped suddenly and stood up straight. "We're here!" she cried happily.

"Uh Toph..." Katara started.

"I think your feet need their eyes checked." Ren finished for her, blinking. Aang stopped and grinned.

"No, she's right!" he exclaimed.

Appa gave everyone besides Ren a ride down. The tiger-wolf said he would make his way down himself so that Appa wouldn't have such a hard time taking off. Toph stayed with him. They scaled the side of the cliff, Toph clinging to Ren's back just because she didn't feel like earthbending at that moment. He used his one good hand to climb gracefully down, landing on a platform of an upside down building with a grunt. They made their way to the group and sat down, glad for the rest.

Aang started to chase after three of their companions, but Katara stopped him, bringing him over to discuss their new plan.

"If you ask me. The new plan, is the old plan. You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes." Sokka said as though that solved everything.

"Oh great. That's fine, I'll just do that." Aang replied sarcastically, flicking a rock.

"Aang this is serious, I mean, where are you going to find a firebending teacher?" everyone looked at Ren who held his hands up.

"Don't be looking at me. My firebending is instinctual, not learned. I can't teach him." he said shortly. "Iroh should be here by now, but I guess he was either hurt or had something else to do first." he shrugged and laid back on the stone floor, tuning out the rest of their conversation until the others started to get on Appa.

"Aang! Could we talk about you learning firebending now?" Katara called over the wind. Aang said something and did a flip, landing back on their platform.

"And then I can show you the giant pishou table." he finished.

"I think that'll have to wait." Ren and Toph said at the same time. Appa moved out of the way to reveal Zuko standing a few feet away.

"Hello, Zuko here." he said, holding up a hand. Ren smacked his forehead in a 'did he really just say that' manner while the others got into defensive stances. "Look, I know you must be surprised to see me here."

"Not really. Seeing as you seem to be everywhere we are." Sokka snapped.

"Right..." Zuko proceeded to explain himself, saying that he could teach Aang firebending. That got their attention, but Katara remained suspicious, as did Sokka. Toph and Ren remained neutral.

"We can't trust you after everything you've done." Aang said after a pause. "Get out of here Zuko."

Zuko was about to protest, but Ren held up a hand to tell him to quit while he was ahead without alerting the others. The banished prince walked off with his head hanging. Ren remained silent, thinking about Zuko's proposal, while Toph argued with the others.

"Ugh!" she yelled at last. "Sometimes I wonder who the blind ones really are." she snapped, stomping off.

"Ren, what do you think about all this?" Aang asked, noticing his silence.

"I think you're all idiots." he growled, following Toph quietly, glaring at them as he passed. "Toph! Wait up!" he called, jogging after her. They had reached the forest on the opposite end of the canyon and Toph was quite a distance ahead, using the earth to move faster. Ren knew that she heard him, but figured that she was ignoring him for a reason. She eventually disappeared from his range of heat waves. He sighed and decided to wait until she made her way back, climbing a tree to wait.

After about thirty minutes, Ren heard scuffling and panting, extending his range, the saw Toph crawling back toward the Air Temple. "Toph!" he cried, jumping down from the tree and running up to her. "What happened?" he knelt beside her.

"My feet got burned. I kind of surprised Zuko and he reacted in the wrong way." Ren furrowed his eyebrows and thought about that. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Toph trying to pull herself upright by clinging onto his shirt. He picked her up carefully and started on the way back to the temple. "It was my fault." she muttered angrily. "I should have said something to wake him up or something."

"Well, fire is dangerous... its really no one's fault. He'll wander back to the temple eventually to apologize if I know him as well as I used to. His guilt drive is about as strong as it can get." snorting, Ren picked up the pace, shifting his injured arm painfully, letting out a strangled grunt. He cursed and shifted Toph onto his back carefully, taking some pressure away from his arm.

"Yeah, but how will the others react when I tell them what happened?"

Ren thought on that. "Bad." he said shortly. He started jogging, the faster they got back, the faster her feet could be healed. Sliding down an embankment, he jumped as far as he could and grabbed a tree that was hanging on the side of the canyon, swinging himself around a couple time. He felt Toph's grip on him tighten as he let go, flying across the canyon and barely grabbing onto a vine that was hanging from one of the platforms. The feat would have been impossible for anyone else, but he had used some fire to boost himself. Climbing one-handed up the vine, he plopped Toph on the side and hauled himself up, grabbing her again and bringing her down to the group.

"What happened?" Katara cried as she ran up to them. Ren set the girl down so Katara could examine her.

"My feet go burned." Toph replied.

"Oh no. What happened?"

"I just told you. My feet got burned."

"I mean how." Katara grunted, starting to heal her feet.

"She snuck up on Zuko to try and talk him into coming back, and surprised him. He attacked her, but didn't mean to. He'll wander this way soon enough to grovel and beg for forgiveness." Ren said with a sniff, sitting down on a fallen pillar.

"He attacked you?" Sokka demanded.

"Well, it was sort of my fault."

"But he did firebend at you?" Aang asked, not liking the situation. Toph sighed.

"Yes." she said in a pained voice.

"That settles it. Zuko's too dangerous to be out there, left to his own devices." Katara said.

Ren snorted. "Wait a minute. I was going to go back and bring him here anyway." he said. "But really, this isn't anyone's fault. Fire's a dangerous element." he shrugged painfully. "There's no point in trying to bring him here now, he'll arrive within the hour. If not sooner."

Katara glared at him and was about to reply but the ground not too far from the exploded. Ren grabbed Toph from the fountain she had been soaking her feet in and ran with the others to the side, hiding her behind a pillar. He glared up at 'Combustion Man' as Sokka creatively deemed him and fired a couple of fireball at him, growling under his breath as Katara sent a wave of water after them.

When the attacks had little effect, they had no choice but to take shelter. "He's going to blast us right off the cliff side!" Toph cried, clutching Ren's arm as the ground shook.

"Stop!" they heard someone yell. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore."

"Zuko?"

"What did I tell you? Looks like he showed up right on time." Ren said, a bit smug. Zuko tried to convince the man to stop, but was shoved aside and eventually blown off the platform they were on. Ren sent a couple fireball at him while he was distracted. "I can't get a good angle on him from here." he and Katara said at the same time.

Sokka said something, but it was mostly drowned out by another explosion. He pulled out his boomerang and threw it at the man, making it hit him in the forehead. "Alright boomerang!" he cried as he caught it, grinning up at the downed man. Said man started to rise. "Aw... boomerang!" he groaned, taking shelter again. He tried to fire another shot at them, but something went wrong and he exploded instead, making the entire building he was on fall into the canyon.

They all crept out of their shelter slowly, Toph on Ren's back as he favored his injured arm, which had been wrenched out of its socket when they had scrambled to hide. "Sokka." he motioned the boy over and painfully took his arm out of its sling. "Pull hard." Ren commanded as he lowered Toph to the ground, holding his arm out. Sokka grabbed his arm and yanked, making Ren yell in pain as his arm popped back into place. He placed it back in the sling, waiting until Katara got some energy back for her to heal the burns and gashes on it.

He noticed Zuko walking toward them and snorted. "Your guilt drive get the better of you?" he remarked as he came to a stop a few feet away from the group.

Zuko glared at him but sighed and proceeded to apologize and restate his request. Eventually, Aang consulted his friends.

"I have no problem with the guy. Besides, it'll be good to have another firebender in the group." Ren said with a one armed shrug after Toph and Sokka stated their opinions, leaving Katara. She complied, but didn't seem very happy about it. Zuko said something happily, but Ren didn't hear him, he was lost in his own thoughts, from the failed invasion to the upcoming battle with the Fire Lord. Having Zuko on their side would be a very good thing. He was a powerful firebender, with a good heart, and he was smart.

Shaking his head, Ren turned and walked with Aang and Sokka, Katara trailing behind, and Toph in Sokka's arms. "Uh Katara." she said suddenly. "Could I talk to you alone for a minute?" she asked.

"Of course." Sokka placed Toph on part of a pillar beside the waterbender, and turned to find Ren leading Zuko inside and Aang walking toward Appa. He decided to follow Ren.

"Don't let Katara's attitude get to you." Ren said to Zuko as they reached an empty room. "It took her a while to trust me again too. Just ignore the worst of it and retaliate only when its appropriate, otherwise you're going to get a water whip up your rear end." he cringed at the memory. "If you need anything or want to bail, I'm down the hall. I'm probably the only one besides maybe Toph that will help you at the moment. Aang might, but Katara and Sokka are out of the question completely."

"Thanks for the heads up." Zuko sighed, setting his meager things down on the bed as Ren walked away back outside.

_**-Toph-**_

"What did you want to talk about Toph?" Katara asked, her annoyance forgotten for the moment. Toph hesitated, her cheeks dusted pink.

"Uh well..." she trailed off, tugging on her clothes nervously. Katara blinked, this wasn't like Toph. "I think... I think I might be in love..." Toph whispered.

"Really! That's great! Who is it?" Katara cried happily, beaming at her younger friend. Toph swallowed hard and grimaced. "Is it someone traveling with us?" she prompted. Toph nodded.

"He's the only one who's really understood me..." Toph breathed. "And... he's very kind to me, even though he seems distant sometimes."

Katara studied the girl's face carefully, thinking hard. "Ren?" she asked after a minute. Toph's head shot up and her cheeks grew darker.

Nodding, Toph let a barely noticeable smile creep across her face. Punching Katara playfully she laughed. "Yeah, but don't you ever tell him!" she snapped with false annoyance.

"I won't!" Katara laughed. "I'll leave that to you." Toph's face fell and Katara frowned. "You _were _planning on telling him right?"

"Eventually..." she whispered. Placing her hand lightly on the stone she was sitting on, she stiffened and went pale. "He's right around the corner, and not moving." she said, her voice cracking. Katara's gaze snapped to the doorway, but she didn't see anything. "He's there... his heartbeat is fast... he heard us."

"Why is that a bad thing?" Katara whispered, hopefully too low for Ren's ears.

"I don't know..." shaking her head, Toph put on a brave face as she felt Ren's weight shift to turn around. He rounded the corner, his expression giving no clue as to what he just heard.

"Hey Katara. Have you gotten any of your energy back? This sling is getting annoying." he asked as he walked lightly up to them, his voice level. But his eyes were soft, Katara knew that he had heard.

"Yes, remove the sling and I'll see what I can do." she said softly. Ren removed the sling and makeshift wrappings to reveal a spiderweb of burns and slashes. He had used that arm to defend himself, having been pulling a cart along behind him that was filled with explosives; risking his own life should they go off before he could get away.

Katara slowly healed his arm, and noticed that his sightless gaze kept traveling from Toph, to the ground, to his arm, and back to Toph. Trying not to smile, she concentrated harder on healing him and was done before even she knew it. "There. That should do it."

"Thanks." he replied absently, running his fingers lightly over his healed arm, peering at Toph hard, as though trying to decode her mind just by staring hard enough.

"I need to go give Zuko a piece of my mind. I'll be right back." Katara said after a moment.

"Don't mutilate him." Ren snorted, finally turning his blind gaze back on her, an eyebrow raised. Katara smirked and walked quickly and with purpose to Zuko's room, her face stony. Ren slowly turned to look at Toph, who had been virtually motionless since he came out here. "Toph, talk to me. What's the matter?" he asked, making her jump.

"What?" she said, as though just now realizing that he was there. "Why would you think something was wrong?" she asked gruffly, flicking a stone absently.

"Well, you've been staring into space for five minutes now. Silence isn't really your thing, and honestly, its starting to freak me out." he replied with a shrug. Toph couldn't help but snicker. Ren stood suddenly, grabbing her and slinging her onto his back.

"Hey! What are you doing?" she cried, clutching his shoulders.

"Trust me." he said as he started to run, jumping off the platform and using a burst of fire to propel himself further. He grabbed the cliff side with a grunt and shambled his way down, feeling Toph's racing heart against his back. Eventually, he felt his foot slip as he hit the hole he was looking for, and dropped carefully, grabbing the ledge and allowing Toph to climb up before hauling himself up. "I found this place about an hour ago before Zuko burned your feet." he picked her up and carried her lightly down a long catacomb that had sparkling crystals hanging from the ceiling and sticking up from the walls and floor. The air was cool, and the ground moist. The light quickly faded, but to two blind people, it didn't make much of a difference as they descended deep into the cavern. Ren eventually heard the underground river that he had been listening for and stepped into the cool water, pulling Toph from his back. Holding her around her middle so there wouldn't be any pressure on her wounded feet, he lowered them into the water.

Toph squeaked as the cold water hit her feet, which had been starting to ache with a passion. "Why did you bring me all the way here when we have the fountain?"

"The fountain was obliterated. Besides, I like this place. Its peaceful." his said quietly in her ear, making her shiver. They fell silent, listening to the river run quietly, and water drip from the ceiling. Toph all but melted into Ren's hold, sighing silently as her feet started to cool, feeling better already. Ren looked around absently, sensing the crystals forming in corners and the spires hanging down from the roof. He sensed a passageway across the narrow river, but he couldn't tell how deep the river itself was. It was too cold for him to get a feed on it. Taking a breath, he looked down at Toph frowning thoughtfully. "Do you trust me?" he asked quietly, his voice echoing.

"Yes I do." Toph replied, surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"I can feel the way that Katara and Sokka look at me. Aang doesn't seem to have any problems with me... anymore... but they don't even try to hide it. They think I can't tell when they're glaring at me behind my back or to my face. But from you... I don't get any of the feeling of distrust... I really don't get anything..." he whispered, tightening his grip slightly as though she was the only thing keeping him standing there.

"Well they're all idiots... so you made a mistake. We all do."

"Well my mistake almost cost Aang his life." Ren muttered resentfully. He wasn't self-pitying though. He was testing Toph.

"Katara healed him." she said shortly. Sighing, she nudged him slightly with her elbow. "Look. Can we not worry about that now? You said this place was peaceful, and you're destroying that peace." she joked. Ren chuckled, lowering his head until his mouth was by her ear.

"I never knew you were so wise..." he murmured, making Toph shiver slightly as his warm breath ghosted her ear.

"Uh... I think my feet are freezing..." she said in a cracked voice. Ren laughed and decided to see how deep the river was. He sloshed through the water, testing each step before he put his foot down. He gradually made his way to the other side, the water rising to his knees, making his pants cling to his lower legs in uncomfortable ways. He moved Toph back onto his back and walked slowly down the passage. It was long and curving, but eventually a gust of flower scented wind slapped them in the face and they stepped into a small gully surrounded on all sides by rock. Some trees were blooming on the edges and a small pond glimmered close to the center. They could hear birds chirping quietly in the trees and the wind was constant and pleasantly cool.

"Wow..." they both breathed at the same time, Toph using Ren's abilities to see. Walking toward the pond, Ren set Toph down on the soft grass, sitting himself down beside her, almost close enough to where if he leaned over, their shoulders would touch. Her fingers twitched at the closeness, wanting to wrap around his arm and hold him close, to take his his warmth, but she held herself back.

"You know..." Ren said suddenly. "I've never been in love before..." Toph's heart lurched as he wrapped an arm around her, drawing her close. "Until now that is." he murmured in her ear, holding her smaller frame gently. She could feel her face heating up, trying to keep her composer and failing. "I heard what you told Katara." he continued softly.

"I..." she broke off, stealing her nerves. "I never knew that anyone could treat someone else with the kindness that you do us. More over me... no matter how bad Katara or Sokka treat you, you just grin and say something in that witty way that you seem to have and walk away, unfazed. With me, you don't walk away, you stay by my side..." she knew that she was acting out of character, but didn't really care at this point. "Thank you so much..." she wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him fiercely. His hand slid down to her waist, and he pulled her into his lap, wrapping his other arm around her as well.

"There's nothing to be thankful for... actions speak louder than words or so they say." he said softly. Toph felt his hands travel down her side, not sure what he was doing until they stopped at her feet. His fingers brushed softly over the burns, and she was about to protest when she felt a gentle tingling where his fingertips brushed. The pain from the burns lessened, slowly at first, then gradually faster as his fingers brushed lightly over every bit of burned flesh.

"What are you doing?" Toph demanded in a quiet tone.

"Waterbenders aren't the only ones who can heal. Firebenders have to be more or less efficient when it comes to burns, especially when we're still learning." Ren said, not breaking his concentration one little bit. Toph remained silent until he withdrew his hands. She placed her feet experimentally on the ground, shocked when there was no pain. She leaned back into Ren's form, smiling.

"Thank you Sparkle-butt."

"Hey! Aren't we past the annoying nicknames?" he laughed. "And how did I manage to get deemed 'Sparkle-butt?'"

"...Your sparkling personality?" Toph said, not really meaning it. Ren playfully shoved her, laughing. "We should get back. Sugar Queen is probably done beating up Zuko by now."

"You're probably right." Ren sighed, not wanting to get up yet. Nevertheless, he stood and helped Toph to her feet. "Do you want to walk or are you too lazy?" he asked lightheartedly. He hadn't even really finished when Toph jumped on his back, almost knocking him over.

"Onward fluffy!" she laughed, thinking of the one time she saw his other form.

"I'm not fluffy!" he cried, smirking. "My fur's just thick... for a tiger-wolf." he grimaced involuntarily.

"Hey, do you think that you might show my your original form again one day?" Toph asked, leaning her head on his shoulder. Ren drew in a deep breath, thinking.

"Maybe..." he confirmed. He heard Toph yawn and say something incoherent, then her breathing evened out and she was asleep by the time they reached the river. "Sleep well..." he whispered as he stepped out on the other side, smiling softly.

_**Aww... they're soo cute together! I think this is my longest chapter yet. Let me know what you think!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 7- Sparks

By the time Ren managed to haul himself back up the cliff, making sure that Toph stayed secure, he could hear loud arguing. He slid behind a pillar, trying to even out his panting and stay silent.

"I'm telling you! I didn't do anything with them!" Zuko cried. "You were in the room with me when they vanished." he was talking to Katara. Apparently, their abrupt disappearance had rattled the group.

"How do we know you didn't get one of your Fire Nation buddies to help you?" Sokka demanded. Ren rolled his eyes. _Childish..._ he thought.

"Are you kidding me? That's ridiculous." Zuko snapped back, starting to lose his temper. _So that's what they're playing at... they want him gone. Or Katara and Sokka do anyway. _Ren growled to himself. Setting Toph down gently, making sure not to wake her, he crept silently from pillar to pillar until he was standing by Appa, who looked at him like he wanted to 'say' something.

"Sh." Ren said shortly, shaking his head. Appa turned his attention back to the argument. Ren quietly snuck up on Katara, who was standing behind Aang and Sokka by a few inches. Zuko saw him and Ren motioned for him to be quiet. Getting as close to Katara as he could manage, he wrapped his arms tightly around her middle and lifted her screaming into the air, tossing her into Appa as gently as he could manage. "What about Fire Nation buddies?" he growled, glaring at Sokka momentarily before turning his blind gaze back to the stunned waterbender. "Learn the facts before jumping to conclusions." he sighed.

"Where's Toph?" Aang asked.

"Over there. We went for a walk and she fell asleep." he motioned to Toph's limp form absently, not turning his glare from Katara, who was starting to break out in a cold sweat. "Katara... I know for a fact that you or your brother trust me about as much as you trust Zuko-"

"Now wait a minute-" Sokka tried to interrupt.

"But you said yourself that everyone deserves a second chance." Ren continued, raising his voice to cut Sokka off. "People change. I don't care what happened in Ba Sing Sei, so don't even mention it. I was doing what I thought my duty was and Zuko couldn't very well fight his own sister now could he?" he continued, his voice getting colder as he talked. Narrowing his eyes, Ren grunted at Katara's terrified expression. "Now stop trying to get rid of him, and start letting him try to prove himself. It hasn't even been half a day and you're trying to get him to either leave or attack so that you can a) kill him, or b) drive him to the darkest corners of the earth to die alone. That doesn't seem fair, or human. And you're all acting like immature little five year old's. Even you Aang, even though you're not as bad as Katara over there." they could hear an undertone of a growl as Ren got more and more worked up, though his voice remained calm and cold.

"But he's followed us all over the world, trying to kill us!" Sokka protested.

"And I stuck around with you trying to learn everything I could, then tried to kill you. Which do you think is worse? Having someone you barely know hunt you? Or having a close friend try to take your life?" he vaguely heard Toph stand up but didn't really pay attention at that time. "I know for a fact that you've already heard this, but let me repeat it so you get it. Sometimes _I_ wonder who the blind ones are. No stop acting like children and look at the facts. Aang needs a firebending teacher. I can't teach him, Iroh's MIA and here come Zuko, showing up on our doorstep and all you can do is cut him down and try and drive him away."

"You're one to talk." Sokka snorted, unusually serious. "You only helped us because it would benefit you in the long run. You don't care about any of us."

"Sokka that's not fair." Aang protested.

"No he's right. I had been been helping you to benefit myself. But that was before Ba Sing Sei." Ren cut in before the Avatar could say anything. He knew Toph was listening, but he was on a roll. "Your obsession with the fact that the Fire Nation is responsible for all you suffering is making you blind to the fact that not all firebenders are evil. If anything, Ozai and Azula are the only truly evil ones, and they're who knows where, preparing for their next strike while we're here squabbling like children. Face it, not skirt around it. I would have left already, but there is one thing and _one _thing only keeping me tied to this group." he stopped there and stalked off, climbing a set of stairs to a higher platform to take out his rage on part of the building before he lost it on his so-called friends. "Think about the war, not your own hurt feelings." he growled before he got out of earshot. "It may just save your lives."

After about half an hour of beating up a pillar, which had turned black by now, Ren sensed someone coming up the stairs. Instead of Toph like he expected it to be, it was Zuko, and he could feel guilt radiating off him in waves. Sighing, he blasted the pillar one last time before wiping the sweat that had collected on his forehead and sitting heavily down on a rock. "You don't have to feel guilty you know." he grunted as Zuko stopped a few feet away.

"You didn't have to defend me." he replied quietly.

"I wasn't just defending you Zuko. I was defending myself. I'm sick of the way Katara and Sokka look at me. They think I can't feel it, but I can. I can see their expressions with my firebending."

"You've gotten that good?" Zuko said, surprised.

"Zuko... I've always been able to do that. I just never told you. Anyway. What did you need? Want to bail already?" Ren leaned back and stared blindly at the sky, soaking in the sinking sun's warmth.

"No. I got sick of them jumping at every breath I took and decided to see what you were up to. Despite how much you annoy me, now and in the past, I find that I can always talk to you and feel better later."

Ren blinked at him with a strange expression before laughing. "Well, I've always been a bit of a listener. And despite how much you annoy me, I always listen to your pointless rants." shrugging, he crossed his legs and smirked. "So what did you want to rant about this time?"

Zuko chuckled despite himself and sat about a foot away from Ren, looking at the sunset. "Nothing much. I just needed to get away. Toph seems to be fond of you."

"You could say that." Ren said quietly, grinning inwardly.

"And Aang looks like he wants to defend both of us, but doesn't seem sure how without looking like he was going against his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? You mean Katara? They aren't together. Aang wants them to be, but isn't sure how to say that he loves her." shrugging, Ren glanced at Zuko. "And Sokka's somewhere between neutral and on Katara's side. He doesn't want to go against his sister, but he also doesn't want to face Toph's wrath if he says too many harsh things. I'm sure that she's waiting for the opportunity to clobber him with various heavy objects."

The self-banished prince laughed quietly. "Oh she already beat him up."

"And you didn't call me? What's the matter with you?" he shoved Zuko playfully, almost sending him toppling off the rock. "Anyway... I refuse to allow Katara to disrespect myself and you anymore. What will she think of Aang when _he _becomes a firebender huh? Will she automatically distrust him just because he can firebend?" he was more talking to himself than to Zuko, but the prince listened regardless.

"Good point. But I don't think so. Despite how much she tries to avoid me, I've been watching her interact with the Avatar for the past half hour or so. I don't think she's capable of mistrusting him." shrugging, Zuko stood. "Its getting late. Let's head on back. They might get suspicious if both of us are gone for too long." he continued with a bitter tone.

Ren grunted and jumped to his feet, following the other down the stairs and a couple corridors to reach where Katara was currently preparing supper. "Poison our food, and I'll force feed it to you and eat your food." Ren said as he sat down. Katara shrank away some as he glared at her, but straightened and ignored him as best as she could. Toph scooted over to his side while Zuko remained at his other side, looking awkward and uncomfortable. Rolling his eyes, Ren turned to Toph and grinned. "So have you come up with a nickname for Zuko yet?" he asked. "Preferably something more dignified than mine."

"Nickname?"

"Yeah. You're not a part of the group until Toph awards you a nickname. For instance, Aang is Twinkle-toes, Katara Sugar Queen-why _sugar queen_ though I have no idea-, and Sokka Snoozles and/or Antsy Pants. Depends on the situation."

"And what about yours?" Zuko asked innocently. Ren's face turned an interesting shade of pink.

"His is either Sparkle-butt or Fluffy. That's a new one." Toph said with a grin, making Ren's face become red. Zuko was trying not to laugh for the sake of his own health if the glare Ren was shooting in his general direction was any indication. "I was thinking something along the lines of Princess Moody?" she shrugged, ignoring the strangled noise Zuko made.

"_Princess?_" Ren repeated. "That's low, even for you."

"Deal with it." Toph grunted in a tone that said that she wasn't changing her mind. Ren and Zuko exchanged glances and sighed in unison. Katara passed out their meals, Ren and Zuko both staring warily at theirs like they expected it to bite them. "She didn't poison them" Toph said, sighing. They looked at her then at each other, then at their food.

"If you say so..." Ren muttered, shoveling into his. His plate was cleared before he knew it, having not realized how hungry he was until now. He hadn't really eaten anything in a couple days, seeing as they had been traveling up until today. He listened absently as the others minus Zuko exchanged tense banter before giving up on any form of social conversation. Standing up, he walked a few meters away, laying down on the cold ground, not caring that he didn't have a blanket or pillow or anything. And he didn't particularly feel like hiding in his room either. Listening quietly as the others continued their conversation, he had almost dozed off when the ground around him shook, making him sit up abruptly.

Toph was sitting beside him, having raised an earth tent around them both. "The others have gone inside for the night." she said quietly, though she sounded distant for some reason. Ren studied her posture for a moment, sitting up more comfortably. "I don't like this..." she muttered.

"Don't like what?" he asked, still not fully awake.

"Constantly arguing. Sugar Queen is too stubborn to admit that she's wrong for once, and just go with the flow so she's making life for everyone else miserable." Toph sighed and leaned on Ren's shoulder, trailing her fingers absently up and down his arm. "I just wish that we could go back to the way things were before the eclipse. When things were actually fun." her voice was quiet and sad. Ren wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his lap.

"Well, we just have to work with things the way they are for now. They'll simmer down eventually." he murmured in her ear, even though he didn't believe it himself. Toph turned around an buried her face in his shoulder.

"I don't think they will. They still haven't around you, so why should they around Zuko?" she whispered, her voice muffled. "Let alone both of you." she finished after a slight pause. Ren moved his hand up to her face, pulling her chin up and resting his forehead on hers. She could feel his blind gaze boring into her's and felt safe and comfortable for a moment.

"I know..." he replied softly. "But with the comet coming, we need to work together as well as we can. We really don't have time left for fighting like today. I hate the situation as much as you do, but for now its best to just go with it instead of tearing ourselves apart from the inside out."

Toph was silent for a heartbeat. She didn't know what came over her, but she wrapped her arms around Ren's neck and pulled him down further, locking their lips together. She heard a muffled grunt of surprise come from him, but he didn't pull away. His hand moved to cup her cheek and he deepened the kiss, his eyes sliding shut as Toph's did. Toph opened her mouth, granting entrance before it was even asked and felt the firebender's tongue slip inside, moaning quietly as it ran across her own, raking across her teeth and the roof of her mouth. Her grip on the back of his neck loosened as she ran her hand through his hair; it was soft, almost like chicken down, but at the same time course from days without washing properly. He smelled like a mixture of smoke and some sort of fruit that she couldn't place. Unusual, but nice.

When they came up for air, Toph found that her legs had wrapped around Ren's waist, and that one of his arms was around hers, the other on her cheek. Ren rested his head in the crook of her neck sighing and breathing in her scent. Dust and flowers; despite how few and far between her baths were. He could feel her heart beating against his chest as she pressed her face against his neck.

Slowly lowering himself onto the floor, Ren adjusted Toph so that her legs weren't squashed under his back, instead stretched out like his. They remained in a comfortable silence until he noticed that her breathing had evened out and she was asleep. Chuckling, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift into a light sleep.

Early the next morning, Ren woke up to a heavy weight on his chest. It took a moment for his half-asleep brain to process who it was, and he tried not to sit up in surprise. From the lack of activity that he heard outside the earth tent, he figured that it was just before dawn. He always was an early riser. Thankfully, so was Toph. She woke up about ten minutes after him, and pushed herself up on his chest, her eyes half closed with sleep. She squeaked when she realized that her hands weren't planted on the earth, and she stumbled back, crashing into the wall of the tent.

"Have a good sleep?" Ren yawned, sitting up and popping his sore back. Toph blinked the sleep out of her eyes and stared blindly at him for a couple minutes, trying to process what he had said.

"Yeah." she replied at last, her voice slurred some. "What time is it?"

"A little bit before dawn I'm guessing. Hard to tell." he shrugged and crawled out the one side of the tent, standing up to stretch properly. He could hear soft birdsong in the distance and the air in the canyon was strong. Predawn he guessed. "I will never understand how you sleep on the bare floor." he grunted, popping his back again, the sound echoing slightly making him wince.

"I'm used to it. It makes me feel safe." Toph replied as she lowered the tent. Ren snorted something along the lines of 'whatever' and walked off to brush up on his firebending. Toph followed him to 'watch'. Really though she didn't want to be alone until the others woke. She listened as he sent out a few blast of fire to warm up and get his brain working properly before he started sparing with an invisible opponent. She didn't notice Zuko walk up behind her until he spoke.

"He's as good as Uncle." he said in awe. Toph jumped, letting out a startled yell that made Ren stop abruptly and jerk into a defensive stance. He relaxed though when he sensed that it was just Zuko.

"Don't do that Princess!" Toph snapped, glaring at him. Zuko laughed and walked past her to Ren.

"Want to spar?" he asked, wanting to release some of his pent up frustration. Ren nodded and they bowed to each other, slipping fluently into their own unique stances.

Zuko took the first move, not surprised when Ren casually sidestepped and swept his feet out from under him. He rolled and got back to his feet, sending a fireball at the tiger-wolf, who blocked it with his own, sending another right after it, camouflaging it in the smoke. Zuko barely managed to dodge, sending a wave of fire at the other, who rolled under it, and sent his fist flying at the self-banished prince. Toph had scooted back a few feet to avoid any stray fire.

Zuko and Ren exchanged punches and kicks for few seconds before Ren dropped to the ground and kicked out, forcing Zuko to jump over the fire that shot from his foot. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Aang, Katara, and Sokka had run up, expecting to see one or both of them ripping Toph apart. Katara and Sokka seemed strangely pleased that the two firebenders were fighting each other.

Ren took Zuko's distraction to pin his to the ground, holding a blade of fire an inch from his throat. "Dead." he said with a grin, extinguishing the flame and pulling Zuko up as he stood. "Get distracted like that while fighting your father or sister and they'll take the opportunity to kill you." Ren continued, brushing his hands off on his pants. "Of course you already know that..." he shrugged. "Your firebending seems awful weak. Something wrong?"

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows and thought. "No. At least not much more than usual."

"Right... I stopped caring at no. Later." Ren grunted, strutting off in another direction, leaving the others to themselves. It was really a test, and Zuko and Toph knew it. Ren was going to hide somewhere in earshot and listen to the sparks fly. Toph rolled her eyes, shaking her head. _Boys are such idiots..._ she sighed to herself, half-smirking.

She finally noticed the tense silence and focused on the others more. She could practically feel the air crackling with tension. _This is going to be a long day..._

_**-Ember Island-**_

Things had gradually gotten better between Zuko and the Gaang over the past week or two, though there was still a bit of suspicion hanging in the air when ever both of the group's firebenders were in the room together. Katara had finally gotten over the majority of her hatred for Zuko, and Sokka had become good friends with the self-banished prince. Now they were hiding at said prince's summer home after Azula's attack on the Air Temple. Aang and Zuko were sparing in the courtyard, Sokka and Suki were of doing... something... and Toph was watching the firebending match with vague interest. Ren was exploring the island thoroughly in his original form, sniffing out every creature and plant that lived there. He really didn't have anything else to do.

Sticking his nose in a hole, he yanked it back abruptly, falling on his butt. Rubbing it indignantly, he stared at the porcupine-like creature that had crawled angrily out of the hole, cursing at him. _"Sorry..." _he growled to it, grinning sheepishly. It cursed at him some more before retreating into its hole to go back to sleep. _Note to self... no more sticking my nose where it doesn't belong._ Of course he should have already known that, but hadn't been thinking clearly when he stuck his nose into the hole.

Standing up, he shook his pelt and trotted through the lush undergrowth, he jumped when he heard a crash to his right. Crouching down into the ferns, he extended his range of firebending, wincing when he saw a platypus-bear crashing through the brush in his direction. He couldn't move without being spotted, and he doubted that he could fight off such a huge creature quickly without getting himself seriously injured. Climbing up a tree was a solution, but the platypus-bear would probably knock it down or follow him.

_"Peace young tiger-wolf." _he heard a sage-like voice speak. _"I will not harm you."_ shivering, Ren sat up, revealing himself to the platypus-bear, tense and ready to run. _"I am the spirit of this island. When the Fire Lord built his home here, I hid deep in the forest waiting for someone who had a conflicted mind, but a pure heart to come along."_

_"I'm not conflicted." _Ren barked at the bear.

_"But you are. You are not sure if your path is the right one. On the one hand you have your loved one. On the other, you have your duty to the Fire Nation. You have been raised your whole life to think that the Fire Lord is your master."_

_"Stop-"_

_"But you also know that he is wrong. In your heart, you know that helping the Avatar is the right thing to do. But in your mind, you think that you are going against your master."_

_"Stop it-"_

_"You think that, by going against your master, you are betraying your family."_

_"Stop!" _Ren yowled, snarling at the spirit. _"Ozai is not my master! He's not my family! You know nothing about me." _he growled, backing away.

_"Ah, but I do Ren. You were taken from your mother at the age of three weeks, your training started at six months. At five years, you went on your first mission for the Fire Lord. At ten, you were transferred into the labs where you were partially fused with human DNA, and you stayed there until eleven when you were placed with Zuko when you refused to help Ozai anymore. Three years later you met the Avatar and saved him from Zuko. Two months later, you met Toph. And now you're here." _Ren stared blindly at the bear in amazement. _"You are very valuable to the Fire Lord, but even more valuable to your friends. That is why I'm giving you a gift."_

_"A gift?"_

_"Yes. But it will only work for one person. There are two blind people among your group. You, and Toph. This gift will give sight to the person who ingests it. Who will it be Ren?" _The bear placed a small vile on the ground and lumbered away slowly.

Ren stared at the vile blankly for a few minutes before snatching it up in his jaws and sprinting back to the house, his mind set.

_**-Toph-**_

Toph's head shot up when her more sensitive hearing picked up a faint yowl from the forest. She blinked in its particular direction for a moment before shrugging it off as nothing and turning back to the fight, which was winding down. "Something doesn't seem right..." she muttered.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, not really paying attention to either.

"...Nothing. Never mind." though she couldn't help but feel like something was going to change soon. After a few minutes, she could feel fast vibrations of some animal running toward the house. "Ren's back." she announced vaguely, paying close attention to the vibrations. They were urgent, almost panicked, as though every step was life or death to him. When Ren skidded into the courtyard, he dropped something gently on the floor and sat down heavily, panting furiously.

"What wrong?" Aang asked, having been taking a break from sparing with Zuko to sit next to Katara and rest.

"Noth... Nothing..." Ren panted, standing up shakily. He picked up the something in one paw and walked shakily over to them. "Here." he placed it in Toph's lap. "Drink it." he commanded, though it had a gentle undertone.

"What is it?" Toph asked, picking up the vile.

"Just drink it. Its nothing bad, trust me." he sat down heavily and let out a breezy sigh. "Four miles in ten minutes. That has to be a new record." he was still panting slightly. Toph stared blindly at him for a couple seconds before uncapping the vile and tossing it back, gagging on the bitter taste that it left in her mouth.

"Where did you get that?" Aang asked curiously.

"Hm? Oh, some platypus-bear spirit that knew everything about my past. He gave it to me as a gift and told me to make a choice." he replied absently, his blind gaze fixed on Toph, as though waiting for something to happen. "And before you start blabbing on about trusting before knowing all the facts, I know when someone has malicious intentions. Living around the Fire Lord for most of my life tends to give you that sixth sense."

Toph meanwhile felt a slight pricking at the back of her eyes, almost like tears. That pricking turned into almost noticeable pain and she had to bite her tongue to keep from yelping as it grew stronger. Eventually, she couldn't hold it back any longer. She let out a loud cry, clenching her eyes shut and trying to block out the pain. She vaguely heard Ren curse and felt something jump up beside her. Her hands groped blindly and the eventually entangled themselves into Ren's thick fur as the pain grew more intense. She buried her face in his neck, screaming in agony.

She could feel his throat vibrating in what could have been speech or purring, the former more likely. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided and she opened her eyes, only to clench them closed again, going as stiff as a board. Opening them again to see if she was hallucinating, she jerked back when she _saw_ tan fur pressed against her face.

"Toph..." she heard Katara say. "Your eyes..." but she wasn't listening. Her new found gaze was fixed on Ren's neck. Slowly, her eyes traveled up to his head to see him grinning at her.

"I told you it was nothing bad." he chuckled. She took his face in, memorizing every detail. His muzzle was of medium length and wide, a cross between a wolf and a tiger of course. His fur was tan, his chest and belly white, and he had black stripes. His eyes were pale turquoise, cloudy and blind. Her gazed fixed itself on the scar that Jet had given him in Ba Sing Sei. It was slightly pink, and very noticeable against his black and tan striped fur.

"Ren... You gave up the chance of a life time..." Aang said, amazed.

Ren turned toward Aang and snorted. "Please. I can see as well as any of you with firebending. I just can't see colors." he was telling the truth mostly. What he didn't say was that he had to set energy aside for firebending that applied to sight and firebending that applied to fighting. Which, even after so many years, was difficult to get the proportions right.

Toph's gaze traveled down his stocky legs, muscled and strong, to his paws. At first she thought they were mangled, but when she squinted, she realized that they looked like bent hands. Longer toes and a thumb-like toe that grew out of the inside bone of his wrist. It looked strange, but at the same time not. She jumped slightly, brought out of her daze when Ren lifted one of the paws and placed it a few inches back, stepping away from her.

"I'll be right back." he said, turning and dashing into the house. She heard him pound up the stairs and push open a door hard enough for it to smack the opposite wall. Toph felt eyes on her and turned her's to her friends, taking in their appearances for the first time. All of them were staring intently at her, curious and for some reason wary, like she was going to bite them.

"So you can really see?" Sokka asked stupidly. Toph rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well no Snoozles, I'm just really good at acting." she replied sarcastically. "Uh... did my eyes change or something that gave you the hint that I could see?" she continued more quietly.

"Yeah." Katara replied. "They're emerald green now. Not pale and milky green." she offered a tentative smile, all of them ignoring a bang and loud curse come from Ren up stairs. It was kind of normal when it came to him getting dressed. Despite having his human form for six months, he still had problems with coordination when he put clothes on, especially pants. And being blind only made things worse.

"Cool." they ignored another curse, but looked up when they heard Ren call out.

"Hey Katara, what'd you do with my shirt when you washed it?" he asked, hanging out of his window half way in only a pair of crimson pants. "Aw forget it. I'll find it later." he grunted, hopping out the window and sliding down the roof, and landing softly on the ground below. Toph had to push down a blush when he stood up straight. He had a light six-pack and abs, and his arms were muscled leanly. On his chest, and part of his side, was a black tattoo of a pair of dragons, almost yin and yang like, one looked more Chinese, the other more western. (1)

Toph peeled her eyes away from that and up to his face. He looked young, thirteen or fourteen, and had shaggy tan hair that hung slightly in his eyes. It had black and white streaks on the sides and a couple faint ones along the top of his head. His scar was less noticeable, but she could still see it. Ren's posture was relaxed, his hands in his pockets, leaned back some, most of his weight on one foot, but she could see that he was tense at the same time, ready to dodge or attack if he needed to. _So this is who I fell in love with..._ she thought, her heart racing.

They had been keeping their relationship secret, at least until after the war. They didn't want their friends to worry more about them being hurt if one was killed, but both Toph and Ren knew that Katara suspected. They trusted that she wouldn't say or do anything, but otherwise gave no hint.

Toph's thoughts were cut off by Sokka who had ambled over to Ren and was poking at the tattoo on his chest curiously. Ren ignored him for the most part, probably lost in his own thoughts as Sokka continued to prod him with the hilt of his sword. "Where'd you get this?" he asked, poking it again, finally being shooed away by a dismissive hand.

"The firebending masters of course. They probably gave the same one to Aang and Zuko, but it hasn't appeared yet." he shrugged.

"_You _went to go see the masters?" Zuko and Aang asked in unison.

"Yep. Iroh told me about them and my curiosity got the better of me." he chuckled deep in his chest and walked over to sit next to Toph. "Not that it matters much."

"It matters more than you think!" Aang cried. "Do you have any idea what sort of power you've been holding back?"

"Yes." Ren replied in a clipped tone, making it obvious that he was never going all out, not even in a full fledged fight. "And Sozin's Comet will increase that. Look..." he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Can we not talk about this now? Just... go back to your training or something." he scooted back and leaned against the wall, grunting something under his breath sourly. Toph glanced between him and the others, still jumping for joy that she could see inside, but keeping a straight face as best she could on the outside. She could tell that Ren didn't want things to get as tense as they were a week ago, but she also knew that he knew that the slightly relaxed atmosphere that had developed wouldn't last very long. The comet was coming fast, and there was not stopping it. They had to enjoy what time they had while they had it.

_**Yay its done! This is the longest one yet, and I intend to keep it that way, but you never know. Let me know what you think!**_

_**(1) http : // wildspiritwolf .deviantart .com/ art/ Yin-Yang-Tribal-Dragons-65936498 **__**Remove the spaces. Its Ren's tattoo, and it belongs to its owner.**_


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